Social circles in social networks

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for transmitting contact data for displaying graphical representations of contacts for display to a user, the contacts being contacts of the user within a computer-implemented social networking service, generating a first social circle of the user, the first social circle comprising a first subset of contacts of the user within the social networking service and defining a first distribution for digital content, generating a second social circle of the user, the second social circle comprising a second subset of contacts of the user within the social networking service and defining a second distribution for digital content, and, in response to user input, providing the first social circle and the second social circle for selection by the user to define a distribution of digital content, the distribution comprising at least one of the first distribution and the second distribution.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Prov. Pat. App. No.61/408,732, filed Nov. 1, 2010, and U.S. Prov. Pat. App. No. 61/408,811,filed Nov. 1, 2010, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporatedherein by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This specification generally relates to computer software systems andmethods, in particular, systems and methods for the creation andmaintenance of social networks in social networking applications.

BACKGROUND

Computers and mobile devices, such as cellular phones and personaldigital assistants, have become increasingly interconnected due to thewidespread availability of wired and wireless connections tocommunications networks such as the Internet. Even in the earliest daysof the ARPANET, users took advantage of such interconnectivity tocommunicate with one another through early forms of email. As email grewin availability and popularity, email “lists” became a popular tool forbroadcasting messages to predefined groups of recipients.

In the 1980's, Internet based “newsgroups” emerged in which users couldread and respond to discussion threads revolving around a wide varietyof predefined categories. Newsgroups are generally readable andupdatable by anyone with the equipment to access them, since access tonewsgroups is generally not restricted on a per-newsgroup or per-userbasis. World Wide Web based discussion groups (i.e., also known asclubs) have also provided a way for groups of people to associate arounda topic. Through the use of web server programming, the idea ofdiscussion groups and discussion threads has been extended to provideusers with the ability to subscribe to secured discussion forums thatare, in some cases, moderated by other users.

Another variant of Internet based communication forums are the web-based“social network” applications, in which a number of users are able tofind each others' accounts and voluntarily become “friends” or“followers” of each other's posted messages. Users generally post briefmessages about their status, mood, activities, and such, and theirfriends and followers can read and optionally reply to those messages.As such, friends may stay abreast of each other's′ activities as a toolfor maintaining their social bonds.

SUMMARY

In general, innovative aspects of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure may be embodied in methods that include the actions oftransmitting contact data for displaying graphical representations ofcontacts for display to a user, the contacts being contacts of the userwithin a computer-implemented social networking service, generating afirst social circle of the user, the first social circle comprising afirst subset of contacts of the user within the social networkingservice and defining a first distribution for digital content,generating a second social circle of the user, the second social circlecomprising a second subset of contacts of the user within the socialnetworking service and defining a second distribution for digitalcontent, and, in response to user input, providing the first socialcircle and the second social circle for selection by the user to definea distribution of digital content, the distribution comprising at leastone of the first distribution and the second distribution.

Other implementations of this aspect include corresponding systems,apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions ofthe methods, encoded on computer storage devices.

These and other implementations may each optionally include one or moreof the following features. For instance, the actions further includetransmitting an indication to each contact of the first subset ofcontacts, the indication informing each contact of membership in asocial circle; the actions further include transmitting an indication toeach contact of the first subset of contacts, the indication informingeach contact of identities of each of the contacts in the first subsetof contacts; the indication informs each contact in the first subset ofcontacts of a name of the first social circle; the actions furthercomprise maintaining contact confidentiality within the second subset ofcontacts such that contacts of the second subset of contacts are notinformed of identities of other contacts in the second subset ofcontacts; the actions further include: transmitting an invitationmessage to contacts of the user in the social networking service,receiving a confirmation indication from at least one contact, andincluding the at least one contact in the first subset of contacts inresponse to receiving the confirmation indication; the actions furtherinclude receiving message text from the user, the invitation messageincluding the message text; the actions further include: providingstandard message text for display to the user, and receiving user inputediting the standard message text to provide edited message text, theinvitation message including the edited message text; the actionsfurther include: determining that an email address of an intendedrecipient of the invitation message is not associated with a particularemail service, and generating the invitation message as a plain textmessage in response to the determining; the actions further include:determining that an email address of an intended recipient of theinvitation message is associated with a particular email service,determining that the intended recipient is not a user of the socialnetworking service, and generating the invitation message to include anadvertisement for the social networking service in response to thedetermining; the actions further include: determining that an emailaddress of an intended recipient of the invitation message is associatedwith a particular email service, determining that the intended recipientis a user of the social networking service, and generating theinvitation message as a rich text message in response to thedetermining; at least one contact of the first subset of contacts isalso a contact of the second subset of contacts; digital contentincludes at least one of text, an image file, a video file, an audiofile, and a uniform resource indicator (URI); the actions furtherinclude expanding the first subset of contacts to include additionalcontacts in response to user input; the actions further include:receiving a search query from a searching user, processing the searchquery, identifying the first social circle based on processing thesearch query, and transmitting data corresponding to the first socialcircle for display to the searching user; the searching user is a userof the social networking service; the searching user is a user of theInternet; the actions further include: receiving a request from thesearching user, the request including a request to join the first socialcircle, transmitting the request to the user, receiving an approvalindication from the user, and in response to receiving the approvalindication, adding the searching user to the first subset of contacts;and one or more contacts of the first subset of contacts or the secondsubset of contacts is a non-social networking contact of the user.

Innovative aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosuremay be embodied in methods that include the actions of receiving firstdigital content from a first user of a computer-implemented socialnetworking service, the first digital content being associated with adistribution, the distribution including a second user, transmitting thefirst digital content for display to the second user, receiving firstuser input from the second user, the first user input indicating acommand to add the first user as a contact of the second user within thecomputer-implemented social networking service, requesting that thesecond user identify at least one social circle, to which the first useris to be assigned, receiving second user input from the second user, thesecond user input indicating an assignment of the first user as a memberof one or more social circles, and assigning the first user as a memberof each of the one or more social circles in response to the second userinput. In some implementations, actions further include: receivingsecond digital content from the first user, the second digital contentbeing associated with a second distribution, the second distributioncomprising the second user, and transmitting the second digital contentfor display to the second user, such that the second digital content isdisplayed on one or more pages, each page of the one or more pagescorresponding to a social circle of the one or more social circles.

The details of one or more implementations of the subject matterdescribed in this specification are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other potential features, aspects,and advantages of the subject matter will become apparent from thedescription, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example network architecture.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example social network including socialcircles.

FIGS. 3A-3H depict screen-shots of an example graphical user interfacefor creating and maintaining social circles.

FIG. 4A depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box for creating apersonal social circle.

FIG. 4B depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box for addingcontacts to a personal social circle.

FIG. 4C depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box for managingcontacts in a personal social circle.

FIGS. 4D and 4E depict example screen-shots of respective alerts fornotifying a user that they have been added to a social circle.

FIG. 5A depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box for creating ashared social circle.

FIG. 5B depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box for addingcontacts to a shared social circle.

FIG. 5C depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box for customizingan invitation to a shared social circle.

FIG. 5D depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box for managingcontacts in a shared social circle.

FIG. 6A depicts a screen-shot of an example stream page for a personalsocial circle.

FIG. 6B depicts a screen-shot of an example about page for a personalsocial circle.

FIG. 6C depicts a screen-shot of an example photos page for a personalsocial circle.

FIG. 6D depicts a screen-shot of an example people page for a personalsocial circle.

FIG. 7A depicts a screen-shot of an example stream page for a sharedsocial circle.

FIG. 7B depicts a screen-shot of an example about page for a sharedsocial circle.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for creating asocial circle using a social networking service.

FIG. 9 is flowchart illustrating an example process for preparing andtransmitting an invitation to a social circle.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for generating asocial circle from a legacy service.

FIGS. 11A-11C depict screen-shots of an example stream page for a userof a social networking service.

FIG. 12 depicts a screen-shot of an example social circle inclusionpage.

FIGS. 13A-17B depict example screen-shots of a visibility inspector forposting to a social networking service.

Like reference numbers represent corresponding parts throughout.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, social circles are categories to which a user can assigntheir social networking contacts and better control the distribution andvisibility of social networking posts. In accordance with the presentdisclosure, a social circle is provided as a data set defining acollection of contacts that are associated with one another in acomputer-implemented social networking service. Generally, a socialcircle can be described from the perspective of an individual that isthe center of a particular collection of socially interconnected people,or from the aggregate perspective of a collection of sociallyinterconnected people. A social circle can have narrowly definedboundaries, all of the members of the social circle may be familiar withone another, and permission may be required for a member to join asocial circle. In accordance with the present disclosure, a user of thesocial networking service can define a social circle, and the socialcircle, as a data set defining a collection of contacts, may reflect areal-life social circle of the user. That is, a social circle canreflect real-life social interactions between persons that the user maydirectly or indirectly associate with.

Large numbers of people have embraced the use of electronic socialnetworking services as tools for building and maintaining networks ofpersonal, familial, academic, professional, and other interpersonalrelationships. These networks can grow and overlap in ways that may giverise to new issues. One of the concerns among users of traditionalsocial networking services is that posts that are relevant or intendedfor consumption by one subgroup of the user's contacts may beirrelevant, uninteresting, or even embarrassing or offensive when readby other contacts. For example, a user's contact list may includefriends, coworkers, and family, and there may be some overlap amongthose groups (e.g., a coworker who is also considered to be a friend, afamily member who is also a coworker).

In cases where the user were to simply post a message to all contactsusing a traditional social networking service, some contacts may seeposts that could be irrelevant, or embarrassing to the user, if viewedby a particular sub-group of contacts. For example, a post about atechnical nuance of the user's job may be interesting to coworkers, butuninteresting to family. As such, the uninterested contacts may begin toignore the user's posts, or even remove the user as a contact to reducethe number of uninteresting posts displayed. In a more serious example,the user may post a status of “running late for work,” which may beharmless if read by the user's friends, but may be personally orprofessionally damaging if read by coworkers (i.e., boss) or family(i.e., mom). As such, the user of a traditional social networkingservice may simply choose to self censor, not post anything and/orrestrict the people maintained as contacts within the social networkingservice. These options can be associated with their own drawbacks. Inthe case of self-censorship, the user and some contacts may be lessfreely able to exchange information and take full advantage of thesocial networking service. In the case of restricting contacts, the usermay be forced to narrow the focus of the electronic social network to aselected category of contacts (e.g., to include only family, or onlycoworkers), which again restricts the user's ability to interact withother online contacts and take full advantage of the social networkingservice.

Though the creation and use of social circles, the user can organize andcategorize social networking contacts into various different groupingsthat can be used to control the visibility and access those contactshave to digital content distributed by the user. Example digital contentcan include textual postings, digital pictures, videos, audio files,hyperlinks (e.g., uniform resource indicators, URIs), and/or otherdigital content associated with the user's social networking profile.Returning to an earlier example, the user could post an update about theaforementioned technical nuance to only a “coworker” circle, and spareother contacts from seeing information that is irrelevant to them.Furthermore, social circles can be used to give users insight into thepotential visibility of digital content distributions before they occur.As will be discussed below, the user may view a breakdown of thecontacts in the user's various circles that would receive digitalcontent distributed by the user.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example network architecture 100. The networkarchitecture 100 includes a number of client devices 102-110communicably connected to a server system 112 by a network 114. Theserver system 112 includes one or more processing devices 116 and one ormore data store 118. The processing device 116 executes computerinstructions (e.g., social network computer program code) stored in thedata store 118 to perform functions of a social network server.

Users of the client devices 102-110 access the server system 112 toparticipate in a social networking service. For example, the clientdevices 102-110 can execute web browser applications that can be used toaccess the social networking service. In another example, the clientdevices 102-110 can execute software applications that are specific tothe social network (e.g., social networking “apps” running onsmartphones).

Users interacting with the client devices 102-110 can participate in thesocial networking service provided by the server system 112 bydistributing digital content, such as text comments (e.g., updates,announcements, replies), digital photos, videos, or other appropriateelectronic information. In some implementations, information can beposted on a user's behalf by systems and/or services external to thesocial network or the server system 112. For example, the user may posta review of a movie to a movie review website, and with properpermissions that website may cross-post the review to the social networkon the user's behalf. In another example, a software applicationexecuting on a mobile device, with proper permissions, may use globalpositioning system (GPS) capabilities to determine the user's locationand automatically update the social network with his location (e.g., “AtHome”, “At Work”, “In Brownsdale, Minn.”).

Users interacting with the client device 102-110 can also use the socialnetworking service provided by the server system 112 to define socialcircles to organize and categorize the user's relationships to otherusers of the social networking service. Examples of the creation and useof social circles are provided in the description of FIG. 2, andthroughout the remainder of the present disclosure.

In some implementations, the client devices 102-110 can be computingdevices such as laptop or desktop computers, smartphones, personaldigital assistants, portable media players, tablet computers, or otherappropriate computing devices that can be used to communicate with anelectronic social network. In some implementations, the server system112 can include one or more computing devices such as a computer server.In some implementations, the server system 112 can represent more thanone computing device working together to perform the actions of a servercomputer (e.g., cloud computing). In some implementations, the network114 can be a public communication network (e.g., the Internet, cellulardata network, dialup modems over a telephone network) or a privatecommunications network (e.g., private LAN, leased lines).

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example social network 200 including socialcircles. A user 202 is a member of a social network that supports thecreation and use of social circles (e.g., the social network provided bythe server device 112 of FIG. 1). In the present example, the user 202has a number of contacts 204 a-204 i with which the user 202 can havesome form of relationship (e.g., friends, coworkers, customers,teammates, clients, relatives, club members, classmates). The user 202categorizes the contacts 204 a-204 i by assigning them to one or moresocial circles, such as a social circle 210, a social circle 220, and asocial circle 230. A social circle 240, which has a number of contacts242 a-242 c, is provided as a query-based social circle that can beautomatically generated without input from the user 202. In someimplementations, the social circle 240 can be generated based oninformation gathered from and has some commonality among the user 202and the users 242 a-242 c (e.g., posts, uploaded photos, check-ins,volunteered location information).

The social circle 210 is a personal social circle. In someimplementations, personal social circles are groupings created by andmay be known only to the user 202 (e.g., the contacts 204 a, 204 b mayreceive no indication that they are in the user's 202 personal socialcircle 210). In some implementations, personal social circles aregroupings created by the user 202 and may be known to the user 202 aswell as the contacts (e.g., contacts 204 a, 204 b) that are members ofthe social circle (e.g., the contacts 204 a, 204 b receive an indicationthat they have been added to the personal social circle 210).

In some implementations, personal social circles may be used to organizeand categorize the contacts 204 a-204 i in ways that are relevant to theuser 202. In some implementations, the user 202 may use personal socialcircles to organize contacts in order to discretely target which of hiscontacts 204 a-204 h will see certain postings or have access toparticular information. For example, the user 202 may be planning asurprise party for a small group of friends. As such, the user canorganize contacts into “Surprise Party Attendees” and “Surprise PartyHonorees” personal social circles. By doing so, the user 202 may bettertarget selected postings to the friends attending and/or helping to planthe surprise party (i.e., Surprise Party Attendees), while targetingselected postings to friends that are to be honored at the surpriseparty (i.e., Surprise Party Honorees) to maintain the integrity of thesurprise.

The social circle 220 is a shared private social circle, which may alsobe referred to simply as a shared circle. In general, shared privatesocial circles are social circles that the user 202 creates and invitescontacts to voluntarily join. Contacts that accept the invitation becomemembers of the shared private social circle. Members of a shared privatesocial circle can see information posted to that circle by the user 202and can post information to be shared with other members of the sharedprivate social circle. For example, the user 202 may tend to post alarge number of jokes to the social network. However, while some of thecontacts 204 a-204 i may find the jokes to be entertaining, others mayfind them to be simply annoying. Realizing this, the user 202 may createa “jokes” shared private social circle and invite some or all of thecontacts 204 a-204 i to join. With the “jokes” social circle in place,the user 202 may post witticisms to the “jokes” circle, and only thosecontacts who have accepted the invitation are able to see the user's 202comicality. Similarly, members of the shared private social circle areable to post messages to the circle, and those posts are visible toother members of that circle.

The social circle 230 is a shared public circle. In general, sharedpublic circles are social circles that the user 202 creates, and invitescontacts to voluntarily join. Further, the existence of a shared publiccircle is publicly available such that other users of the socialnetworking service (e.g., not necessarily just the user's 202 contacts204 a-204 i) may request to join the public social circle. Members ofshared public circles may post information to, and see updates postedby, other members of the same public shared circle. In someimplementations, public shares circles may be “fan” or “group” circles(e.g., circles dedicated to a particular place, event, product, movie,celebrity, sports team, company, concept, philosophy, organization,support network). For example, the user 202 may create a shared publiccircle for his band, and fans of his act may join the circle to discussupcoming shows, download MP3s of the band's music, or post videos fromrecent concerts. In another example, the user 202 may create a sharedpublic circle for alumni of his high school graduating class, which hisformer classmates may find and join in order to stay in touch with oneanother and post pictures from their school days. Once a shared publiccircle is created, in some implementations the user 202 can invitepeople to join the circle. In some implementations, nonmembers of thecircle can request membership in the shared public circle, andmembership in a shared public circle may be automatic upon request, ormay require the user's 202 approval to become members of the sharedpublic circle.

In some implementations, one or more default social circles can beprovided or suggested to a user when the user subscribes to a socialnetworking service. For example, “Friends,” “Family,” and “Coworkers”social circles can automatically be provided in a user's profile uponthe user subscribing to the particular social networking service. Othersocial circles can automatically be provided including, for example, an“Acquaintances” social circle and/or a “Just Following” social circle.In some implementations, the automatically created or circles caninclude personal social circles. Although default social circles can beautomatically provided, it may be left to the user to actually populatethe default social circles with contacts. For example, each of thedefault social circles may initially be empty of contacts, and the userpopulates each of the default social circles as discussed in furtherdetail herein.

In some implementations, one or more default social circles can beautomatically generated based on the user's profile information. Forexample, the user's profile may include demographic data (e.g., age),job data and/or interests data (e.g., sports, hobbies). Through datamining techniques (e.g., clustering social circle creations over athreshold number of users), a provider of the social networking servicemay determine that users within a particular demographic typicallycreate one or more particular types of social circles. By categorizing auser within a particular demographic, the provider of the socialnetworking service can suggest or automatically generate one or moreparticular default social circles. For example, if a particular userfalls within a demographic that corresponds to a high school student, adefault “School Friends” social circle may be suggested to orautomatically created for the user. As another example, if a particularuser falls within a demographic that corresponds to a college student, adefault “College Friends” social circle may be suggested to orautomatically created for the user. Social circles can also be suggestedor created based on interest data provided in a user's profile. Forexample, if a particular user's interests include skiing, a default “SkiBuddies” social circle may be suggested to or automatically created forthe user.

In some implementations, one or more social circles and/or one or morecontacts to add to a social circle can be suggested to the user based ondata associated with the user. The data can indicate a likelihood of theuser having a social connection to particular contacts. In someexamples, email data associated with the user can be processed tosuggest one or more social circles to the user and/or contacts to add toa social circle. For example, email data associated with a user canindicate that the user frequently emails a contact that has the samesurname as the user. Recognizing this, the social networking service cansuggest that the user add the contact as a contact within the socialnetworking service (i.e., if the contact is not already a contact withinthe social networking service) and/or to add the contact to a Familysocial circle. As another example, email data associated with a user canindicate that the user frequently emails a contact in a businesscontext. Recognizing this, the social networking service can suggestthat the user add the contact as a contact within the social networkingservice (i.e., if the contact is not already a contact within the socialnetworking service) and/or to add the contact to a Coworkers socialcircle and/or suggest that the user create a Professional Contactssocial circle to add the contact to.

In some implementations, a user can create an event and can transmit aninvitation to one or more contacts requesting that each of the one ormore contacts attend the event. Example events can include in-personevents and virtual events. Example in-person events can include awedding, a birthday party, a concert, a dinner, a movie, a theaterperformance and/or any social gathering of people. Example virtualevents can include a teleconference, a video conference and/or any timedcommunication of people using electronic devices. In someimplementations, a distribution interface, discussed in further detailherein, can be provided to invite event attendees. The user can provideuser input to the distribution interface, in manners discussed herein,to specify which contacts and/or social circles are to be invited to theevent.

In some implementations, a social circle can be generated based on anevent. In some examples, and based on data provided in the invitationand the contacts, to which the invitation is sent, one or more socialcircles corresponding to the event can be generated. In this manner, theuser and/or contacts that become members of the social circle candistribute digital content corresponding to the event using the socialcircle. For example, an event can include a concert and the user caninvite one or more contacts to attend the concert. A concert socialcircle can be suggested to the user and can include the one or morecontacts as members of the concert social circle. The user and the oneor more contacts can distribute digital content to one another using theconcert social circle. For example, before the concert, the user and theone or more contacts can coordinate when and where to meet to at theconcert and/or share images, videos and/or audio of the particularartists performing at the concert. As another example, after theconcert, the user and the one or more contacts can distribute imagesand/or videos captured while attending the concert and/or can sharestories about occurrences at the concert.

As discussed herein, posts can be distributed to contacts within thesocial networking service including one or more social circles, suchthat they are exclusively viewable by the indicated contacts and/orcontacts within one or more indicated social circles. For example, andas discussed in further detail below with regard to FIGS. 11A and 11B, auser of the social networking service can generate a post and indicateone or more social circles for distribution of the post. In someexamples, a user distributing a post can define a distribution thatincludes a plurality of social circles, such that the post issimultaneously distributed to members of the social circles. In someimplementations, an auto-complete component enables the user to type inpart of the name of a social circle and/or individual contact to specifyto which social circles and/or individual contacts the post content isto be distributed.

In some implementations, the auto-complete functionality can be based ona contact ranking. For example, contacts and/or social circles caninclude an associated ranking score. Contacts having a higher rankingscore are ranked higher than contacts having a lower ranking score. Insome examples, auto-complete functionality can identify one or morecontacts and/or one or more social circles based on text input into adistribution interface of a content sharing interface, discussed infurther detail below. The one or more contacts and/or one or more socialcircles can be listed in rank order based on the ranking scores. Forexample, the text input can include the letter “f” and the auto-completefunctionality can identify the contacts “Farley” and “Frank” as contactsof the user, to which digital content can be distributed. The contact“Farley” can have a ranking score that is lower than a ranking score ofthe contact “Frank.” The contacts can be displayed to the user forselection in rank order based on the ranking score. Consequently, andcontinuing with the instant example, the contact “Frank” can be listedhigher on a list of contacts displayed to the user than the contact“Farley.” In this manner, although the contact “Farley” could be listedfirst on an alphabetical basis, the contact “Frank” is instead listedfirst based on the ranking scores. As another example, the text inputcan include the letter “f” and the auto-complete functionality canidentify the social circles “Family” and “Friends” as social circlesdefined by the user, to which digital content can be distributed. Thesocial circle “Family” can have a ranking score that is lower than aranking score of the social circle “Friends.” The social circles can bedisplayed to the user for selection in rank order based on the rankingscore. Consequently, and continuing with the instant example, the socialcircle “Friends” can be listed higher on a list of contacts displayed tothe user than the social circle “Family.” In this manner, although thesocial circle “Family” could be listed first on an alphabetical basis,the social circle “Friends” is instead listed first based on the rankingscores.

In some implementations, the ranking scores can be based on a popularityof contacts and/or social circles. For example, a contact that the useroften shares digital content with may have a ranking score that ishigher than a ranking score of a contact that the user rarely sharesdigital content with. Continuing with the example provided above, thecontact “Frank” may receive digital content from the user more oftenthan the contact “Farley.” As another example, a social circle that ismore often used to define distribution of digital content may have ahigher ranking score than a ranking score of a social circle that isless often used to define distribution of digital content. Continuingwith the example provided above, the social circle “Friends” may be usedmore often to define distribution of digital content by the user thanthe social circle “Family” (i.e., the user distributes content to theFriends social circle than the Family social circle).

In some implementations, the ranking scores can be based on a socialvicinity of the user to the respective contacts. For example, a rankingscore of a contact that is a direct contact of the user may be higherthan a ranking score of a contact that is an indirect contact of theuser. Continuing with the example provided above, the contact “Frank”can be a direct contact of the user (e.g., a friend) while the contact“Farley” is an indirect contact of the user (e.g., a friend of afriend).

In some implementations, the ranking scores can be based on a frequencyof interaction via emails between the user and each respective contact.For example, the user can directly email each contact using an emailservice and a ranking score can be generated for each contact based onthe email interaction. In some examples, the ranking score can bedetermined based on a number of emails sent from the user to aparticular contact. In some examples, the ranking score can bedetermined based on a number of emails sent from the user to aparticular contact over a particular time period. In this manner,frequency of email contact (i.e., number of emails per time period) isconsidered in the ranking score. In some examples, the ranking score canbe determined based on the number of emails sent from the user to theparticular contact and the number of emails sent from the particularcontact to the user. In some implementations, each ranking score can beprovided by an email service to the social networking service.

Continuing with the example provided above, the contact “Frank” can bein frequent email communication with the user, while the contact“Farley” is in less frequent email communication with the user. Aranking score corresponding to Frank and a ranking score correspondingto Farley can be provided to the underlying social networking servicefrom an email service. Accordingly, text input to a content sharinginterface can include the letter “f” and the auto-complete functionalitycan identify the contacts “Farley” and “Frank” as contacts of the user,to which digital content can be distributed. The contacts can bedisplayed to the user for selection in rank order based on the rankingscore. Consequently, and continuing with the instant example, thecontact “Frank” can be listed higher on a list of contacts displayed tothe user than the contact “Farley.”

In some examples, a character can be provided to the server as it isinput by the user and the server can process the character, and anypreviously provided characters, to provide output for presentation tothe user. For example, auto-correct functionality discussed herein caninclude character data being transmitted to the server as it is input bythe user to the content sharing interface. In response, the server cangenerate output including one or more contact names and/or socialcircles that correspond to the input character data for presentationback to the user in a list of contact names and/or social circles, fromwhich the user can select a particular contact and/or social circle.

During a post write-time, a post data set is transmitted from the user'sclient computing device (e.g., client device 102 of FIG. 1) to adistribution hub, which can be provided at a server (e.g., server system112 of FIG. 1). The post data set includes a plurality of data. In someimplementations, the post data set includes post content data (e.g.,text, uniform resource indicator (URI)), timestamp data (e.g., atimestamp indicating the time that the post was generated), distributiondata (e.g., contacts and/or one or more social circles), andidentification (ID) data (e.g., an ID assigned to the post data set upongeneration of the post). In some implementations, the distribution datais processed to provide an access control list (ACL) that specifieswhich contacts within the social networking system are granted access tothe post content. In some implementations, the distribution hubdetermines end points the post data set is to be distributed to based onthe ACL. More specifically, the set of contacts that care about the postand/or that are allowed access to the post is determined based on theACL and the ID of the post is written to a per user/view index at thedistribution hub. When fetching posts to distribute to a user, theuser/view index is accessed and the IDs of the various posts that theuser is allowed to view are determined. The post data sets are retrievedfrom a data store (e.g., data store 118 of FIG. 1) and are transmittedto a client device associated with the requesting user.

FIGS. 3A-3H depict screen-shots 300 of an example graphical userinterface for creating and maintaining social circles. In thescreen-shots 300, a social graph editor user interface (UI) 301 isshown. In some implementations, the UI 301 can be an interface presentedby a purpose made social networking application, while in someimplementations the UI 301 can be one or more web pages of a socialnetworking website displayed in a general purpose web browser.

The UI 301 includes a number of choices presented in a menu bar 305. Inthe present example, the “Social Network” choice has been selected by auser. This selection causes a web-based social networking application tobe executed and a social network menu 310 to be displayed. The socialnetwork menu 310 includes a profile indicator 312 in which informationsuch as a user name 314 and a user image 316 associated with thecurrently logged in user are displayed.

The social network menu 310 also displays, among other items, a circlessubmenu 318. The circles submenu 318, when selected (e.g., asrepresented by the highlighting of the submenu's title), causes a socialcircle display 320 to be presented. The social circle display 320includes a number of social circles 322 a-322 e that are graphicalrepresentations of various social circles that the user has created orhas permission to edit. Each of the social circles 322 a-322 e displaysinformation about the social circle it represents. For example, thesocial circle 322 c displays a name 324 a, a count 324 b of the numberof contacts associated with the social circle, and an indication of whatkind of social circle (e.g., personal, private shared, public shared)that the social circle 322 c is.

The social circle display 320 also includes a contact display 326. Thecontact display 326 provides a graphical interface for viewing,selecting, and organizing items in the user's contact lists. Acollection of contact icons 328 a-328 i represents the contacts or otherentities (e.g., organizations, places, or other items) sociallynetworked with the particular user. In some implementations, the iconscan be digital photos of the contacts they represent (e.g., the icons328 a, 328 d), arbitrary images (e.g., the icons 328 b, 328 g), orplaceholders (e.g., when the contact has no image associated with theiraccount, such as the icon 328 c). Contacts who are members of one ormore of the user's social circles are identified by an indicator 330superimposed upon the icons (e.g., the icons 328 a, 328 f, 328 h). Ascroll bar 329 is provided for the user to access additional contacticons that may not fit into the initial view.

A collection of filter buttons 332 a-332 d is provided to select subsetsof the user's contacts. The “all people” filter button 332 a, whenselected, causes the contact display 326 to display the user's contactswith substantially no filtering. The “selected” filter button 332 b,when selected, causes the contact display to display only the contactsthat have been selected by the user. For example, the user may selectmultiple contacts while in an “all people” view, and then display onlythe selected contacts by pressing the “selected” filter button 332 b.The “in circles” filter button 332 c, when selected, causes the contactdisplay 326 to display substantially only the contacts that are includedin at least one social circle defined by the user. The “no circles”filter button 332 d, when selected, causes the contact display 326 todisplay substantially only the contacts that is not in a social circledefined by the user. A search input box 324 is provided so the user cantype in all or part of a name, and the resulting matches will appear inthe contact display 326.

In some implementations, the contacts provided in the contact display326 can include contacts that are established as electronic contacts(i.e., contacts the user communicates with via the Internet, among othercommunication channels) using the social networking service and/orcontacts that are established as electronic contacts using one or moreother services. In some examples, one or more contacts provided in thecontact display 326 can each also be users of the social networkingservice. In some examples, one or more contacts provided in the contactdisplay 326 might not be users of the social networking service, but maybe contacts of the user through another service, such as an emailservice. In this manner, although a particular contact of the user mightnot be a user of the social networking service (i.e., a non-socialnetworking contact), the user can still distribute digital content, orotherwise communicate with the non-social networking contact using thesocial networking service. For example, a non-social networking contactcan be added to a social circle, such that digital content that isdistributed using the social circle is also communicated to thenon-social networking contact (e.g., via email).

A sorting selector 338 provides selections that the user may choose toalter the way the user's contacts are displayed in the contact display326. For example, a “frequently contacted” selection may be chosen tosort the user's contacts according to how often the user communicateswith them (e.g., by tracking numbers or lengths of social circle posts,email, instant messages, phone calls). In another example, a “number ofcircles” selection may be chosen to sort the user's contacts accordingto how many circles the contact shares with the user.

The social circle display 320 also includes a collection of socialcircle filter buttons 340 a-340 d. The “all circles” button 340 a, whenselected, causes the social circle display 320 to display substantiallyall the social circles that the user is able to administer. The“personal” button 340 b, when selected, causes the social circle display320 to display substantially only the user's personal circles. The“shared” button 340 c, when selected, causes the social circle display320 to display substantially only the user's shared private circles. The“shared-public” button 340 d, when selected, causes the social circledisplay 320 to display only the user's shared public circles.

A content sharing interface 306 is also provided in the UI 301. Thecontent sharing interface 306 can be present across multiple web-basedapplications, such that a user can enter and publish a post from any ofthe multiple web-based applications, without having to go back to thesocial networking application to author and publish a post. For example,and as noted above, the content sharing interface 306 is provided in theUI 301 of the social networking application. The user, however, mayswitch to work in another application. For example, the user may select“Mail” from the menu bar 305, upon which selection, a web-based emailapplication is executed. A UI of the web-based email application (notshown) will also include the content sharing interface 306, such thatthe user can still post to the social networking service, even thoughthe user is not directly working in the social networking application.

Referring now to FIG. 3B, the UI 301 is shown wherein the user is“hovering” (e.g., pausing or clicking) a pointer 342 over the contacticon 328 f. In response to the hovering, a contact dialog 344 ispresented. In general, the contact dialog 344 displays details about,and ways to interact with, a selected contact. The contact dialog 344includes a contact image 346 a and a contact name 346 b.

A social circle summary 346 c displays a summary of which of the user'ssocial circles the contact is in. In the illustrated example, the circlesummary 346 c indicates that “Katie is in Friends and Coworkers.” Insome implementations, the social circle summary may provide otherinformation. For example, contacts that are in a larger number of theuser's social circles may be displayed with a social circle summary 436c such as “Katie is in eight of your circles.” A mutual friends display346 d is provided to display a count of the number of people who areincluded in both the user's and the selected contact's friend or contactlists as well as a display of some or all of the contact imagesassociated with the mutual friends.

A chat button 346 e, when selected, initiates a chat (e.g., instantmessenger) session with the selected contact. An email button 346 f,when selected, initiates an email message addressed to the selectedcontact. A phone button 346 g, when selected, initiates a telephone orother form of voice chat with the selected contact. A “more” button 346h, when selected, causes additional selections for interacting with theselected contact to be displayed. For example, the additional selectionscan include buttons that map or provide navigation directions to theselected client's location, and buttons that provide the user withfunctions or edit or delete the selected contact's information.

Referring now to FIG. 3C, the UI 301 is shown wherein the user is addinga collection of selected contacts to the “friends” social circle 322 a.In some implementations, the user can select one or more contact icons328 a-328 i by clicking, so-called shift clicking, lassoing,rubber-banding, or by performing other actions within the UI 301 toselect one or more of the contact icons 328 a-328 i. The user then“drags” the selected contacts to a target social circle, which in thisexample is the “friends” social circle 322 a.

The selected contacts are represented by a selected contacts indicator346. In the depicted example, the selected contacts indicator 346appears as a stack of the selected contacts' contact icons 328 a-328 i.For example, the selected contacts include the contact “Katie,” and hercontact icon 328 f appears in the stack of the contacts indicator 346. Acount indicator 348 is superimposed onto the contacts indicator 346 todisplay the number of contacts in the selected group.

The selected contacts indicator 346 may be “dragged” (e.g., moved) and“dropped” (e.g., released) onto a social circle to add the selectedcontacts to the selected social circle. In the illustrated example, theuser appears to be dragging the selected contacts to make them membersof the “friends” shared private circle 322 a.

The user is also able to add contacts to a circle by selecting one ormore of the contact icons 328 a-328 i, and then selecting one or more ofa collection of circle selectors 349 a-349 c. For example, the user canclick the contact icon 328 a and then click the “coworkers” circleselector 349 c to add “David” to the “coworkers” social circle 322 e.

The selected contacts indicator 346 can also be dragged and dropped ontoa new circle region 350. By dropping the selected contacts indicator 346onto the new circle region 350, a process for creating a new socialcircle of which the selected contacts will become members is initiated.In some implementations, a menu can be provided to enable the user tocreate a new circle. The creation of new social circles will bediscussed in additional detail with reference to FIGS. 4A-4C and 5A-5D.

In some implementations, the user may drag the selected contactsindicator to an open space outside of the social circles 322 a-322 e orthe new circle region 350. For example, the user may select a number ofcontacts for addition to a circle, but then change his mind and wish tocancel the action. In some implementations, the user may drop theselected contacts indicator 346 onto an open space to cancel the action.In some implementations, a visual indication may accompany thecancelling action. For example, when the user drops the selectedcontacts indicator 346 in empty space, the stack of contact icons withinthe selected contacts indicator 346 may be animated to give theappearance that each contact icon in the stack is “flying” back to itscorresponding contact icon 328 a-328 i.

Referring now to FIG. 3D, the UI 301 is shown wherein the user ishovering the pointer 342 over the “family” social circle 322 b. Ingeneral, the user may hover the pointer 342 over one of the socialcircles 322 a-322 e, and in response the selected social circle mayalter its appearance to indicate some or all of the contacts who aremembers of the selected social circle.

In the present example, the user is hovering the pointer 342 over the“family” social circle 322 b. In response, the appearance of the socialcircle 322 b is modified to display a number of member icons 352 a-352 fto provide a visual representation of the contact icons (e.g., contacticons 328 e, 328 g, 328 h, 352 e) for contacts included in the socialcircle 322 b. The modified social circle 322 b also includes an add icon354. The add icon, when selected, initiates a process for adding morecontacts to the associated social circle 322 b. For example, clickingthe icon 354 can cause a dialog box or other user interface to appear,with which the user can interact to add contacts to the social circle322 b.

Referring now to FIG. 3E, the UI 301 is shown wherein the user ishovering the pointer 342 over the member icon 352 d of the social circle322 b. In response, a member dialog 356 is presented to displayinformation about the selected member of the social circle. In thepresent example, the dialog 356 displays the name of the selected member(e.g., “Tamara”).

Referring now to FIG. 3F, the UI 301 is shown wherein a member dialog356 is displayed to provide information about, and tools to interactwith, the member represented by the member icon 352 d. In someimplementations, the member dialog 356 is substantially similar inappearance and function to the contact dialog 344 described previously.In some implementations, the member dialog 356 may be presented inresponse to the user clicking or otherwise selecting the member icon 352d. In some implementations, the member dialog 356 may be presented inresponse to an extended hover operation. For example, the user may hoverthe pointer 342 over the member icon 352 d and in response the dialog356 of FIG. 3E may be initially presented. In examples where the usercontinues to hover the pointer 342 over the member icon 352 d, thedialog 356 may be replaced by the member dialog 356.

Referring now to FIG. 3G, the UI 301 is shown wherein the user isdragging the member icon 352 a out of the social circle 322 b. Ingeneral, the user can drag member icons out of social circles to end theselected contacts' memberships in the selected social circles. In theillustrated example, the member icon 352 a is being dragged out of thesocial circle 322 b. The user may then drop the member icon 352 a ontoanother social circle to move the selected contact to that socialcircle, or the user may drop the member icon 352 a into an empty spaceon the screen. In some implementations, when dropped onto empty spacethe member icon 352 a may be animated to give the appearance that themember icon 352 a is flying back to its corresponding contact icon 328c.

Referring now to FIG. 3H, the UI 301 is shown wherein some of the socialcircles 322 a-322 e are shown with modified appearances. In someimplementations, the user can customize the appearance of the socialcircles 322 a-322 e with selected foreground and background colorsand/or fill patterns, alternate fonts, animations, videos, or images.For example, the social circle 322 a may have a custom blue background,the social circle 322 b may display a digital photo as a background, andthe social circle 322 c may have a black and white crosshatch pattern.In this manner, a visual indicator is provided such that the user canrapidly identify and distinguish between the various social circles. Insome implementations, the appearance of the social circles 322 a-322 emay be altered automatically. For example, social circles with a greatdeal of activity may be displayed with brighter colors than socialcircles that are experiencing less traffic. In another example, thesocial circles 322 a-322 e may automatically display member icons orrecently posted digital photos as their backgrounds.

In some implementations, the pattern, color or background image of thesocial circle can be automatically generated based on the type of socialcircle. For example, a personal social circle can include a first color(e.g., red), a shared private social circle can include a second color(e.g., green) and a shared public social circle can include a thirdcolor (e.g., blue). In this manner, the user is provided with agraphical distinction between types of social circles to enable quickrecognition of the types of social circles.

In some implementations, a type of the social circle can be changedafter creation and/or use of the social circle. For example, a personalsocial circle can be changed to a shared private social circle or ashared public social circle. As another example, a shared private socialcircle can be changed to a personal social circle or a shared publicsocial circle. As another example, a shared public social circle can bechanged to a personal social circle or a shared private social circle.In some implementations, a graphical representation of a social circlecan include an interface that enables the user to change the type of thesocial circle. As one example, the interface can include tick boxes thatcan be selected, or checked, to define the type of the social circle. Asanother example, the interface can include a drop-down menu that liststypes of social circles.

With continued reference to FIGS. 3A-3H, a suggestions option 360 can beprovided and can include a contacts suggestions menu item 362 and/or asocial circles suggestions menu item 364 among other possible menuitems. The contact suggestions menu item 362 can be selected by theuser. In response, a list of potential contacts for inclusion in theuser's social network established within the social networking servicecan be provided. In some examples, the potential contacts can includecontacts associated with the user through an email service (e.g.,contacts that the user emails outside of the social networking service).In some examples, the potential contacts can include contacts that theuser is a contact of or follows in other social networking services. Thesocial circles suggestions menu item 364 can be selected by the user. Inresponse, a list of suggested social circles and/or graphicalrepresentations of suggested social circles can be provided.

FIG. 4A depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box 400 for creatinga personal social circle. In some implementations, the dialog box 400may be presented in response to the user dragging one or more contactsonto the new circle region 350, or clicks the “new circle” selector 351of FIG. 3C. The dialog box 400 includes a name input box 402 and adescription input box 404, wherein the user can enter a name anddescription, respectively, for the new social circle. An icon selector406, when activated, provides the user with an interface to select animage to represent the social circle.

A selector 408 is provided for the user to select to indicate that theuser wishes the new circle to be created as a personal circle. Ingeneral, a personal circle is used by and known only to the user, andmay be used to categorize the user's contacts without the contactsnecessarily knowing which personal circles they have been placed in. A“create circle” button 410, when activated, causes a new social circleto be created according to the information and selections chosen by theuser. A cancel button 412, when activated, cancels the creation of a newsocial circle.

FIG. 4B depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box 430 for addingcontacts to a personal social circle. In some implementations, thedialog box 430 may be presented when the button 412 of FIG. 4A isclicked. The dialog box 430 displays a banner 432. In someimplementations, the banner 432 may include the name of the new socialcircle as provided by the user in the name input box 402.

The dialog box 430 includes a contact selector 434 which displays acollection of contact icons 436 a-436 j. A scroll bar 437 is provided sothe user is able to view additional contact icons that may not fit intothe initial view. In the present example, the user has selected thecontact icons 436 a, 436 b, and 436 h. The contact selector 434 alsoincludes a filter selector 438, a search input box 440, and a sortingselector 442. The filter selector 438, when selected, provides the userwith options for filtering which of the user's contacts will appear ascontact icons in the contact selector 434. For example, the user maywish to see only the contacts that do not currently belong to a socialcircle, or only the contacts that live in the same geographical regionas the user. In some implementations, the search input box 440 isprovided for the user to enter some or all of a contact's name,location, or other search term keyword that can be used to search acollection of contacts, and the contacts who best match the search termcan appear in the contact selector 434. In some implementations, thesorting selector 442 may be substantially similar to the sortingselector 338 of FIG. 3A.

A count indicator 444 displays the number of contacts that are currentlyselected. In some implementations, the user can select contacts forinclusion in the new social circle by clicking on selected ones of thecontact icons 436 a-436 j. In some implementations, one or more contactsmay already be selected when the dialog 430 appears. Referring back toFIG. 3C, the user may have initiated the creation of a new social circleby dragging the selected contacts indicator 346 to the new circle region350 or by clicking the “new circle” selector 351, and as such the dialogbox 430 may appear with the contacts represented by the selectedcontacts indicator 436 already selected.

Referring again to FIG. 4B, the dialog box 430 also includes a contactinput box 446. In some implementations, the user may use the contactinput box 446 to type in information (e.g., name, email address, userID) of a person who may not be a contact of the user. In response toactivation of an add button 448, the information entered into thecontact input box 446 to search for and select a person who is notcurrently a contact of the user to the newly created social circle. An“add to selected circle” button 450, when selected, adds the selectedcontacts to the newly created social circle. A cancel button 452 isprovided to allow the user to cancel the addition of the selectedcontacts to the newly created social circle.

FIG. 4C depicts a screen-shot of an example view/edit dialog box 460 ofan example social circle. In general, the view/edit dialog box 460provides an interface that the user may interact with to view, add,remove, or otherwise alter the membership of the selected social circle.The view/edit dialog box 460 displays a collection of contact icons 462that represent the contacts who are members of the selected socialcircle. A contact input box 464 is provided for the user to enter thenames, email addresses, or other information that can be used toidentify contacts for inclusion in the social circle.

The dialog box 460 includes a suggested contacts list 466. In someimplementations, the suggested contacts list 466 may display contacticons representative of contacts who may be good candidates forinclusion in the selected social circle. For example, if the selectedsocial circle includes a large number of contacts who are also in theuser's “coworkers” circle, then additional members of the “coworkers”circle may be suggested for inclusion in the selected social circle aswell. In some implementations, the user may click on items in thesuggested contacts list 466 to add those contacts to the selected socialcircle. A save button 468, when selected, saves the current selection ofcontacts as members of the selected social circle. A cancel button 470,when selected, aborts the any changes made by the user in the dialog box460.

Referring now to FIGS. 4D and 4E, a user that is added to a personalsocial circle of one or more other users may be notified. In thismanner, an asymmetrical relationship between users may be promoted, andusers that may be unaware of social circles and their function in thesocial networking service may be informed. With particular reference toFIG. 4D, an example dialog box 470 is provided with an indication 472that a particular user (e.g., Katie McCormick) has added the user to asocial circle. A brief description 474 of the effect of being a memberof another user's social circle is provided. Detailed information 476 isincluded to provide more detailed information on the particular user(e.g., Katie McCormick) that has added the user to a social circle.Within the detailed information 476, the user is presented with optionsto add the particular user (e.g., Katie McCormick) to their contacts,block the particular user and/or ignore the particular user.

With particular reference to FIG. 4E, an example dialog box 480 isprovided with an indication 482 that a plurality of particular users(e.g., Katie McCormick, Tamara Smith, Rob McDavies and Bob Johnson) haveadded the user to respective social circles. A brief description 484 ofthe effect of being a member of another user's social circle isprovided. Detailed information 486 is included to provide more detailedinformation on the particular users (e.g., Katie McCormick and TamaraSmith) that has added the user to a social circle. An information line488 is also provided enabling the user to expand the detailedinformation 486 to include detailed information on other particularusers that have added the user to respective social circles.

FIG. 5A depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box 500 for creatinga shared private social circle. In some implementations, the dialog box500 may be presented when the user drags one or more contacts onto thenew circle region 350, or clicks the “new circle” selector 351 of FIG.3C. The dialog box 500 includes a name input box 502 and a descriptioninput box 504, wherein the user can enter a name and description,respectively, for the new social circle. An icon selector 506, whenactivated, provides the user with an interface to select an image torepresent the social circle. In some implementations, the dialog box 500can be the dialog box 400 of FIG. 4.

A selector 508 is provided for the user to select to indicate that theuser wishes the new circle to be created as a shared private circle. Ingeneral, a shared private circle is created by the user, who theninvites contacts to join the circle. As such, the contacts will knowwhich shared private circles they have been opted to join. A “createcircle” button 510, when activated, causes a new social circle to becreated according to the information and selections chosen by the user.A cancel button 512, when activated, cancels the creation of a newsocial circle.

FIG. 5B depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box 530 for addingcontacts to a shared private social circle. In some implementations, thedialog box 530 may be presented when the button 512 of FIG. 5A isclicked. The dialog box 530 displays a banner 532. In someimplementations, the banner 532 may include the name of the new socialcircle as provided by the user in the name input box 502.

The dialog box 530 includes a contact selector 534 which displays acollection of contact icons 536 a-536 j. A scroll bar 537 is provided sothe user is able to view additional contact icons that may not fit intothe initial view. The contact selector 534 also includes a filterselector 538, a search input box 540, and a sorting selector 542. Thefilter selector 538, when selected, provides the user with options forfiltering which of the user's contacts will appear as contact icons inthe contact selector 534. For example, the user may wish to see only thecontacts that are already in a social circle. In some implementations,the search input box 540 is provided for the user to enter some or allof a contact's name, location, or other search term keyword that can beused to search a collection of contacts, and the contacts who best matchthe search term can appear in the contact selector 534. In someimplementations, the sorting selector 542 may be substantially similarto the sorting selector 338 of FIG. 3A.

A count indicator 544 displays the number of contacts that are currentlyselected. In some implementations, the user can select contacts forinclusion in the new social circle by clicking on selected ones of thecontact icons 536 a-536 j. In some implementations, one or more contactsmay already be selected when the dialog 530 appears. Referring back toFIG. 3C, the user may have initiated the creation of a new social circleby dragging the selected contacts indicator 346 to the new circle region350 or by clicking the “new circle” selector 351, and as such the dialogbox 530 may appear with the contacts represented by the selectedcontacts indicator 536 already selected.

Referring again to FIG. 5B, the dialog box 530 also includes a contactinput box 546. In some implementations, the user may use the contactinput box 546 to type in information (e.g., name, email address, userID) of a person who may not be a contact of the user. In response toactivation of an add button 548, the information entered into thecontact input box 546 to search for and select a person who is notcurrently a contact of the user to the newly created social circle. An“add to selected circle” button 550, when selected, adds the selectedcontacts to the newly created social circle. A cancel button 552 isprovided to allow the user to cancel the addition of the selectedcontacts to the newly created social circle.

FIG. 5C depicts a screen-shot of an example invitation customizationdialog box 560 of an example social circle. In general, the dialog box560 provides the user with an interface for customizing the invitationthat is sent to contacts that are being invited to join a shared privatesocial circle.

The dialog box includes a text box 562, in which an invitation messageis entered. In some implementations, the text box 562 may bepre-populated with a default message that the user may then modify ifneed be. A preview link 564, when selected, causes a preview of theinvitation message to be shown as it would appear to an invited contact.A send button 566, when selected, causes the invitation or invitationsto be sent to the selected contacts. A cancel button 568, when selected,aborts the invitation process.

FIG. 5D depicts a screen-shot of an example dialog box 570 for managingcontacts in a shared social circle. In general, the view/edit dialog box570 provides an interface that the user may interact with to view, add,remove, or otherwise alter the membership of the selected social circle.In some implementations, the view/edit dialog box 570 may besubstantially similar in appearance and function to the view/edit dialogbox 460 of FIG. 4C. The view/edit dialog box 570 displays a collectionof contact icons 572 that represent the contacts who are members of theselected social circle. A contact input box 574 is provided for the userto enter the names, email addresses, or other information that can beused to identify contacts for inclusion in the social circle.

The dialog box 570 includes a suggested contacts list 576. In someimplementations, the suggested contacts list 576 may display contacticons representative of contacts who may be good candidates forinclusion in the selected social circle. For example, if the selectedsocial circle includes a large number of contacts who are also in theuser's “coworkers” circle, then additional members of the “coworkers”circle may be suggested for inclusion in the selected social circle aswell. In some implementations, the user may click on items in thesuggested contacts list 576 to add those contacts to the selected socialcircle. A save button 578, when selected, saves the current selection ofcontacts as members of the selected social circle. A cancel button 580,when selected, aborts the any changes made by the user in the dialog box570.

FIG. 6A depicts a screen-shot of an example stream page 600 for apersonal social circle. In general, the stream page 600 is displayedwhen the user selects one of the circle selectors 349 a-349 c and astream tab 601 to show updates, comments, and other information thatmembers of the selected social circle have posted. In the presentexample, the user has selected the “family” circle selector 349 b.

The stream page 600 includes a name block 602 that displays the name ofthe selected social circle, a description block 604 that displays adescription of the selected social circle, an image 606 associated withthe selected social circle, and a count indicator 608 that displays thetotal number of members of the selected social circle. An input box 610is provided in which the user can enter information that will appear toother members of the selected social circle as an update (e.g., a post)when the other members view their social networking streams. Note thatin the present example, the “family” social circle is a personal circleknown only to the user. In some implementations, posts made to apersonal circle may be visible only to contacts that the user hasincluded in the personal social circle (e.g., the contacts do notnecessarily know that they have been targeted to receive a particularupdate).

The stream page 600 includes a number of posts 610 a-610 d. The posts610 a-610 d include only the posts submitted by members of the selectedsocial circle. The post 610 c includes a contact icon 612 and a namebanner 614 to display information about the person who made the post 610c. The post also includes a comment box 616 to display the contact'scomments. In the example of the post 610 c, the contact has commented ona web page, and a link section 618 is included to display at least aportion of the referenced web page. Readers of the post 610 c cancomment on the post 610 c by selecting a comment link 620. In someimplementations, clicking on the comment button can cause a comment boxto be displayed, into which the user can enter comments or otherinformation that will be displayed to other members of the social circleas a comment or reply to the post 610 c. An example comment display 622is shown that includes comments in response to the post 610 b.

The post 610 c also includes a “endorse” link 624, when selected,provides the user with a simple way to show an endorsement of, approvalor agreement with a contact's comment or post. The user's “endorse”status is then visible to other members of the selected social circle.An example “endorse” display 626 is shown that includes a summary of thenumber of contacts to have shown approval of the post 610 b.

A hide link 628, when selected, hides the associated post 610 c and anycomments, “endorses,” or other information associated with the post 610c. For example, the post 610 c may include content that the user findsuseless or offensive, and the user can choose to hide the post 610 c toavoid seeing such information. In some implementations, the user may begiven various options for hiding information associated with the post610 c. For example, the user can be given options for hiding only thepost 610 c, or to hide all posts generated by a particular service onthe posters behalf (e.g., awards or help requests generated by games),or to hide all posts from the contact who created the post 610 c. An ageindicator 630 displays how much time has elapsed since the post 610 cwas created.

A privacy indicator 632 is provided to display an indication of thevisibility of the post 610 c. In the illustrated example, the privacyindicator 632 indicates that the post 610 c was posted to a sharedprivate circle. A privacy indicator 634 indicates that the post 610 awas posted publicly (e.g., not necessarily posted to any particularsocial circle). In some implementations, privacy indicators can alsoindicate that a post was made to a shared public circle (not shown).

The posts 610 a-610 d are sorted according to the user's selection ofeither a “best” sort selector 636 or a “latest” sort selector 638. Insome implementations, selecting the “latest” sort selector 638 can causethe posts 610 a-610 d to be sorted by age (e.g., according to the agesindicated by the age indicator 630) or by the age of the most recentcomment to a post (e.g., actively discussed posts will remain near thehead of the list). In some implementations, selecting the “best” sortselector 636 can cause the posts 610 a-610 d to be sorted according totheir quality, relevance, or other criteria. For example, posts can beranked according to how often the user communicates with the poster, thenumber of “endorses” a post has received, how often an item linked to inthe post is viewed, how closely the post aligns with topics of interestto the user, and combinations of these and/or other criteria that can beused to rank the quality of a post.

FIG. 6B depicts a screen-shot of an example about page 650 for apersonal social circle. In general, the about page 650 is displayed whenthe “about” tab 651 is selected, and displays information about theselected social circle. A name banner 652 displays the name of theselected social circle, and selection of an edit link 654 displays aninterface that the user can manipulate to edit the circle's name. Adescription banner 656 displays a description of the selected socialcircle, and selection of an edit link 658 displays an interface that theuser can manipulate to edit the circle's description.

An interactivity options region 660 displays indications of the variousways in which members of the selected social circle can interact withthe user. The interactivity options region 660 includes a chat indicator662 to indicate that members of the selected circle can communicate withthe user through a chat application (e.g., instant messenger client). Anedit link 664 is provided that, when selected, provides the user withchoices related to the availability of chat as a tool that members canuse to contact the user. The interactivity options region 660 alsoincludes a location visibility indicator 646 to indicate that members ofthe selected circle can determine the user's geographical locationthrough a location sharing application (e.g., Google Latitude). An editlink 668 is provided that, when selected, provides the user with choicesrelated how members of the selected circle can see the user's location(e.g., exact location, set location, city level location, no location).

The about page 650 includes a description region 670 that displays ageneral description of the type of social circle (e.g., personal, sharedprivate, shared public) that the selected social circle is. A deletelink 672, when selected, causes the selected social circle to bedeleted.

FIG. 6C depicts a screen-shot of an example photos page 680 for apersonal social circle. The photos page 680 is shown when a photos tab681 is selected by the user, and displays a collection of photos 682a-682 g. Additional photos (not shown) are brought into view byselecting various portions of a navigation control 684. In someimplementations, the photos 682 a-682 g can include photos posted bymembers of the selected social circle. In some implementations, thephotos 682 a-682 g can include photos of members of the selected socialcircle.

FIG. 6D depicts a screen-shot of an example people page 690 for apersonal social circle. The people page 690 is shown when a people tab691 is selected by the user. In some implementations, the people page690 includes a collection of controls and indicators that aresubstantially similar to those included in the view/edit dialog box 460of FIG. 4C.

FIG. 7A depicts a screen-shot of an example stream page 700 for aprivate shared social circle. In general, the stream page 700 isdisplayed when the user selects one of the circle selectors and a streamtab 701 to show updates, comments, and other information that members ofthe selected social circle have posted. In the present example, the userhas selected the “Soccer Club” circle selector 702.

The stream page 700, much like the stream page 600, includes a nameblock 703, a description block 704, an image 706, and a count indicator.An input box 710 is provided in which the user can enter informationthat will appear to other members of the selected social circle as anupdate (e.g., a post) when the other members view their socialnetworking streams. The stream page 700 includes a number of posts 710a, 710 b. The posts 710 a, 710 b include only the posts submitted bymembers of the selected social circle. The stream page also includes amembership status indicator 712. In some implementations, the statusindicator 712 can indicate the user's membership status in the selectedsocial circle (e.g., joined, invited, owner).

Note that in the present example, the “soccer club” social circle is ashared private circle wherein a user creates the circle and then invitesother contacts to become members. In some implementations, posts made toa shared private circle may be visible only to contacts that have agreedto join the shared private social circle (e.g., the contacts will knowthat they will likely receive targeted updates).

FIG. 7B depicts a screen-shot of an example about page 750 for a sharedprivate social circle. In some implementations, the about page 750 issubstantially similar in appearance and function to the about page 650of FIG. 6B. In general, the about page 750 is displayed when the “about”tab 751 is selected, and displays information about the selected socialcircle. A name banner 752 displays the name of the selected socialcircle, and selection of an edit link 754 displays an interface that theuser can manipulate to edit the circle's name. A description banner 756displays a description of the selected social circle, and selection ofan edit link 758 displays an interface that the user can manipulate toedit the circle's description. An interactivity options region 760displays indications of the various ways in which members of theselected social circle can interact with the user.

The about page 750 includes a description region 770 that displays ageneral description of the type of social circle (e.g., personal, sharedprivate, shared public) that the selected social circle is. A deletelink 772, when selected, causes the selected social circle to bedeleted. A tab 781, when selected, shows a photos page that issubstantially similar in appearance and function to the photos page 680of FIG. 6C, and an about tab 791, when selected, shows an about pagethat is substantially similar in appearance and function to the aboutpage 690 of FIG. 6D.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example process 800 for creating asocial circle using a social networking service. At step 802 adetermination is made whether a social circle is to be created. Forexample, the user can indicate an initiate the creation of a socialcircle by dragging the selected contacts indicator 346 to the new circleregion 350 or by clicking the new circle selector 351 of FIG. 3C. If, atstep 802, it is determined that no circle is to be created, then theprocess 800 loops until such time that is circle is to be created.

At step 804, a determination is made whether the new social circle is tobe a personal circle. For example, the user may click the selector 408of FIG. 4A to indicate that a new circle is to be a personal socialcircle. If so, then at step 806 user input is received that includes thesocial circle's name and/or description and image. For example, the usermay provide this information by entering it into the dialog box 400.

At step 808, data is provided to present one or more contacts to add tothe new circle. For example, the dialog box 430 of FIG. 4B presentscontacts that can be added to the circle. At step 810, user input isreceived for selecting one or more contacts that are to be added to thepersonal social circle. In the example of the dialog box 430 of FIG. 4B,the user has selected the contact icons 436 a, 436 b, and 436 h.

At step 812, the selected contact(s) are added to the new circle, and atstep 814 the social circle is provided for display in the user profile.For example, the new circle can appear in the social circles display 320of FIG. 3A.

If, however, at step 804 a determination is made that the new socialcircle is not to be a personal circle, the process continues at step820. At step 820, a determination is made whether the new social circleis to be a shared private circle. For example, the user may click theselector 508 of FIG. 5A to indicate that a new circle is to be a sharedprivate social circle. If so, user input is received at step 822, theuser input including the social circle's name and/or description andimage. For example, the user may provide this information by entering itinto the dialog box 500.

At step 824, data is provided to present people profiles to add to thenew circle. For example, the dialog box 530 of FIG. 5B presents contactswho can be added to the circle. At step 826, user input is received forselecting one or more contacts that are to be added to the circle.

At step 828, editable invitations are provided to the user. For example,the invitation that is shown in the invitation customization dialog box560 of FIG. 5C shows the user a prototype invitation to the new socialcircle. The user is able to accept the default invitation, or may editit. At step 830, the invitations are transmitted to the contactsselected in step 826. For example, the invitations may be sent inresponse to the user clicking the send button 566.

If, however, at step 820 a determination is made that the new socialcircle is not to be a shared private circle (e.g., the new circle is tobe a shared public circle), it is presumed that the new social circlewill be a shared public circle and the process continues at step 850. Atstep 850, user input is received that includes the social circle's nameand/or description and image.

At step 852, data is provided to present people profiles to add to thenew circle. At step 854, user input is received for selecting one ormore contacts that are to be added to the circle. At step 856, editableinvitations are provided to the user. At step 858, the invitations aretransmitted to the contacts selected in step 854.

At step 860, the new social circle is made available for public search.For example, a sports team can create a shared public circle as a socialnetwork in which their fans may associate. Once the social circle hasbeen created, it can be made available for public search, and as such,additional fans may search for and discover the circle. The fans maythen choose to join or request to join the circle. As members of theshared public circle, the fans may then associate with each other basedon their shared interest in the sports team and possibly befriend eachother thus expanding each fan's overall social network.

FIG. 9 is flowchart illustrating an example process 900 for preparingand transmitting an invitation to a social circle. In someimplementations, the process 900 may be performed when the user clicksthe send button 566 of FIG. 5C.

At step 910 a determination is made as to whether the recipient's emailaddress is associated with a particular email service. For example, therecipient may be a member of the social circle networking system, or therecipient may not be a member but is associated with an email addressthat is known to be capable of accepting rich (e.g., HTML layout)emails, or the recipient may be associated with an unknown email serviceor one that is known to be better served by plain text emails.

If at step 910, it is determined that the recipient is not associatedwith a particular service, a plain text email invitation is transmittedto the recipient's email address at step 920. In some implementations,since the recipient's email address is not associated with a known(e.g., particular) email service, no assumption may be made as towhether the service can process and/or present any emails other thanplain text emails. For example, to better ensure that the recipient canactually read the message through his service, a plain text invitationis sent.

If, however, at step 910, it is determined that the recipient's emailaddress is associated with a particular service, it is determinedwhether the recipient is a member of the subject social network at step930. If the recipient is a member of the subject social networkingservice, a rich text (e.g., HTML formatted) invitation is transmitted tothe recipient at step 940.

If, however, at step 930 it is determined that the recipient is not amember of the subject social networking service, a rich text (e.g., HTMLformatted) invitation that includes promotional material regarding thesubject social network is transmitted to the recipient at step 950. Forexample, in the case of step 950, the recipient may be encouraged toaccept the invitation and join the social networking service by beinggiven additional information about the social networking service itself.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example process 1000 forgenerating a social circle from a legacy service. In general, anetworking services provider (e.g., network search provider, web hostingservice, email hosting service, photo hosting service) may introduce asocial circles as part of a social networking service in addition toservices that are already offered, and users of the existing services(e.g., prior to the availability of the social circles) may havecontacts, friends, followers, and the like, organized into focus groups.Three common examples of focus groups are “friends”, “family”, and“coworkers” (FFC). When the network services provider makes socialcircles available for use, the existing users may wish to upgrade theirfocus groups to become social circles complete with the contacts thatwere in their existing focus groups.

At step 1010, a determination is made as to whether a user has one ormore populated focus groups. If so, new “friends”, “family”, and“coworkers” (FFC) social circles are created at step 1020 based on theuser's respective existing FFC focus groups. At step 1030, thecorresponding, legacy FFC focus groups are deleted.

However, if at step 1010, it is determined that the user has nopopulated focus groups, a determination is made at step 1040 as towhether the user wishes to upgrade focus groups to the social circles(e.g., replace his focus groups with social circles that areprepopulated with the contacts in his existing focus groups). If so, thefocus group(s) are converted to respective social circles at step 1050.If not, a determination is made whether the focus groups include FFCfocus groups at step 1060. If so, equivalent FFC social circles arecreated and the existing focus groups are left substantially unalteredat step 1070. If not, at step 1060, no action is taken with respect tofocus groups or social circles.

FIGS. 11A-11C depict screen-shots of an example stream page for a userof a social networking service. FIG. 11A depicts a screen-shot of anexample all items stream page 1100. In some implementations, the allitems stream page 1100 can be displayed when a user selects a streamselector 1101 in the UI 301. In general, the all items stream page 1100displays a stream of updates, posts, and other such information postedby substantially any contact in substantially any of the user's socialcircles and social network.

The page 1100 includes a number of posts 1102 a-1102 b. In someimplementations, the stream can include posts that are automaticallygenerated based on the user's preferences and/or web history. Forexample, the post 1102 b is a post that was generated and presented tothe user based on the user's expressed interest in music videos. Abanner 1104 explains to the user why the post 1102 b was presented tohim, and an edit link 1106 when selected presents an interface withwhich the user can interact to modify the criteria that are used tocontrol the presentation of automatic posts.

A “latest” selector 1108, when selected, causes the posts 1102 a-1102 bto be arranged chronologically (e.g., arranged by length of time sincethey were posted). A “best” selector 1110, when selected, causes theposts 1102 a-1102 b to be arranged by quality. In some implementations,the quality of posts may be determined by the user's relationship to theauthor of the post, the reputation of the author, the number of otherpeople who read, “liked”, commented on, or shared the post, how well thesubject matter of the post aligns with the user's preferences orinterests, or other appropriate criteria that can be used to estimate apost's relevance to the user. In some implementations, a stream arrangedaccording to the estimated relevancies of the posts it includes can becalled a “perfect stream.” The page 1100 also includes a content sharinginterface 1112. The user can click on the content sharing interface1112, indicating an intent to distribute digital content using thesocial networking service.

With continued reference to FIG. 11A, a social circles filter 1120 canbe provided to filter the digital content displayed in the stream basedon one or more social circles. In the depicted example, the socialcircles filter 1120 can be activated to display a list of social circlesdefined by the user (e.g., All, Family, Friends, Coworkers, etc.). Theuser can select a social circle to filter what digital content (e.g.,posts) are displayed in the page 1100. For example, if the user selects“Family,” only digital content that is distributed to the user fromcontacts that are members of the user's Family social circle aredisplayed in the page 1100. As another example, if the user selects“Friends,” only digital content that is distributed to the user fromcontacts that are members of the user's Friends social circle aredisplayed in the page 1100.

In some implementations, the social circles filter can affect whichsuggested contacts and/or suggested social circles are presented to theuser (e.g., when the user selects the suggested contacts menu item 362or the suggested social circles menu item 364, as discussed above). Forexample, if the social circles filter is set to “All,” any potentialcontacts are displayed to the user when the user selects the suggestedcontacts menu item 364. As another example, if the social circles filteris set to “Family,” only those potential contacts that might also befamily members of the user (e.g., potential contacts having the samesurname) are displayed to the user. As another example, if the socialcircles filter is set to “Coworkers,” only those potential contacts thatmight also be coworkers of the user (e.g., have a work email from thesame domain) are displayed to the user.

FIG. 11B depicts a screen-shot of the example all items stream page 1100showing a post region 1150, which expands from the content sharinginterface 1112 when the user selects the content sharing interface 1112.The post region 1150 includes an input box 1152. A text region 1154 ofthe input box 1152 is provided. The user can enter text into the textregion 1154 and/or provide other input for defining digital content thatis to be distributed using the social networking service. In someexamples, a link selector 1156, when selected, presents an interfacethat assists the user with entering a hyperlink to another web page(e.g., to share the page or comment on it). In some examples, a photoselector 1158, when selected, presents an interface that assists theuser with adding a digital image to the post.

The post region 1150 includes a distribution interface 1160. In someimplementations, the distribution interface 1160 provides an interfacethat lets the user determine the distribution of digital content (e.g.,a post that the user is authoring). For example, the user may add orremove contacts, social circles, groups, or other identities from thesharing region to define distribution of the digital content (e.g.,which contacts will see the post). In the depicted example, a friendscircle icon 1162 a and a family circle icon 1162 b appear in thedistribution interface 1160 to indicate that the digital content isintended to be shared with only contacts that are members of the user'sfriends and/or family social circles. In some implementations, iconsthat represent social circles or other groupings of contacts may bereferred to as “chips.” The icons 1162 a, 1162 b graphically represent adistribution for the post. In the depicted example, once the post issubmitted by the user, the post is simultaneously distributed to membersof the multiple social circles (i.e., family social circle, friendsocial circle) defined as the distribution.

In implementations of the present disclosure, a distribution for digitalcontent can be defined based on one or more social circles. As usedherein, a distribution can include a list of one or more contacts, towhich digital content is to be distributed using the social networkingservice. In some examples, a distribution includes one sub-distribution(e.g., one social circle is identified for distribution of the digitalcontent). In some examples, a distribution includes a plurality ofsub-distributions. In the example of FIG. 11B, a distribution fordigital content provided in the post region 1150 can be defined by thesocial circles and/or contacts identified in the distribution interface1160. In the depicted example, a distribution is defined by a Friendssocial circle (graphically represented by the friends circle icon 1162a) and a Family social circle (graphically represented by the familycircle icon 1162 b). In this example, the distribution includes all ofthe contacts that are members of the Friends social circle and all ofthe contacts that are members of the Family social circle. The Friendssocial circle and the Family social circle can each be consideredsub-distributions that define the overall distribution.

An add link 1164, when selected, presents an interface in which the useris able to select people and or circles to be added to the distributioninterface 1160. Each of the icons 1162 a and 1162 b includes a removebutton 1166 that removes the corresponding icon when the button 1166 isactivated. Each of the icons 1162 a and 1162 b also includes a countindicator 1168 that displays the number of contacts in the correspondingcircle. In some examples, the distribution interface 1160 includesauto-complete functionality discussed herein.

A selector 1170 provides the user with a way to indicate whether thepost should be shared through email to people who are not members of thesocial network. For example, the user's family social circle may includecontacts who have email addresses but who are not members of the socialnetwork (e.g., his grandmother receives email through a non-web capablecell phone, or through a fixed purpose email appliance that is incapableof giving her access to the social network). By toggling the selector1170, the user can choose whether or not the post should be sent byemail to those nonmembers. An example of a post that the user may notwish to send by email can be a link to a video, since the user'saforementioned grandmother may not be able to view the video on hernon-web capable equipment. A count indicator 1172 displays the number ofpeople who, from among the selections of social circles chosen by theuser and displayed in the distribution interface 1160, are not membersof the social network and would therefore receive an emailed version ofthe post if the user so chooses.

A post button 1174, when selected, causes the newly authored post to bepublished to the social network and made visible to substantially onlythose contacts that are members of the social circles chosen by the userand displayed in the distribution interface 1160. A close button 1176,when selected, cancels the authoring of a post and closes the postregion 1150.

As discussed above, a user can provide user input to a text region of acontent sharing interface. In some implementations, the user input caninclude one or more trigger characters, each trigger character extendingthe distribution (i.e., the resulting ACL) of the user-provided digitalcontent. For example, a trigger character can indicate that charactersimmediately following the trigger character define a contact, to whichthe digital content of the particular post should be distributed to. Insome implementations, this is in addition to contacts and/or socialcircles identified in an associated distribution interface. In someexamples, a trigger character can include the “@” character and/or the“+” character. The trigger character is immediately followed by acontact name. The trigger character and the contact name of a particularcontact indicate, within the text of the particular post, that the postis to be distributed to the particular contact in addition to any othercontacts and/or social circles that are input using an associateddistribution interface.

In one example, a user can input the text “@Frank” (or “+Frank”) in atext region (e.g., text region 1154 of the content sharing interface1112) as part of a textual post. For example, as part of a textual post,the user can input the text “@Frank and I are headed to Joe's Tavern towatch the playoffs” within a text region of a content sharing interface.The user can indicate that the textual post is to be distributed to asocial circle (e.g., a Friends social circle) using a distributioninterface associated with the content sharing interface (e.g., thedistribution interface 1160 of the content sharing interface 1112). Inresponse to the user sending the textual post for distribution using thesocial networking service (e.g., by clicking on a post button), an ACLis generated for the textual post, as discussed herein, and includescontacts of the user that are members of the social circle, as well asthe contact Frank (who may or may not be a member of the social circle).Accordingly, the presence of the text “@Frank” in the text regionresults in distribution of the textual post to the contact Frank, eventhough the contact Frank might not be identified as part of thedistribution defined using the distribution interface.

In some implementations, textual posts that include a trigger charactercan be distributed to contacts and can render with the trigger characterabsent. Continuing with the example above, the user can input the text“@Frank and I are headed to Joe's Tavern to watch the playoffs.” Uponsubmitting the textual post, the post is distributed to the contactFrank, as well as any contacts and/or social circles defined using thedistribution interface. When the contact Frank, and/or any othercontacts that the post is distributed to, the post can be displayed as“Frank and I are headed to Joe's Tavern to watch the playoffs” with the“@” trigger character absent.

In some implementations, the contact name following the triggercharacter can be converted to hypertext and can provide a link to thecontact's profile within the social networking service. Continuing withthe example above, the user can input the text “@Frank and I are headedto Joe's Tavern to watch the playoffs.” Upon submitting the textualpost, the post is distributed to the contact Frank, as well as anycontacts and/or social circles defined using the distribution interface.When the contact Frank, and/or any other contacts that the post isdistributed to, the post can be displayed as “Frank and I are headed toJoe's Tavern to watch the playoffs” with the “@” trigger characterabsent and the text “Frank” having a hyperlink associated therewith.Action on the hyperlink (e.g., clicking on) can induce Frank's profilewithin the social networking service to be displayed to the userperforming the action, subject to any privacy settings established byFrank.

In some implementations, text following a trigger character within atext region can be provided using auto-complete functionality discussedherein. Continuing with the example above, the user can initially type“@F” and, in response, a list of contact names can be presented to theuser to select from to complete the contact name input. As alsodiscussed herein, the contact names provided in the list of contactnames can be in ranked order based on respective ranking scores.

In some examples, a server can analyze the submitted text and recognizethe presence of a trigger character within the text. In response, theserver can analyze the text immediately following the trigger characterto identify a contact of the user that submitted the text and can addthe contact to the ACL for distribution of the post. In some examples, acharacter can be provided to the server as it is input by the user andthe server can process the character, and any previously providedcharacters, to provide output for presentation to the user. For example,auto-correct functionality discussed herein can include character databeing transmitted to the server as it is input by the user to thecontent sharing interface. In response, the server can generate outputincluding one or more contact names and/or social circles thatcorrespond to the input character data for presentation back to the userin a list of contact names and/or social circles, from which the usercan select a particular contact and/or social circle. In someimplementations, the presence of a trigger character within the textregion can trigger auto-complete functionality for selection of acontact name and/or social circle to immediately follow the triggercharacter.

FIG. 11C depicts a screen-shot of the example all items stream page 1100showing a visibility preview 1180. In general, a visibility previewprovides the user with information about which social circles and/orcontacts are able to view a post. In the illustrated example, the userhas published a post 1102 c. By hovering, clicking, or otherwiseselecting a privacy button 1182, the visibility preview 1180 may bebrought into view.

The visibility preview 1180 includes a recipient list 1184 that displaysicons representative of the contacts and social circles that havepermission to view the post 1102 c. In some implementations, therecipient list 1184 can initially include the contacts and socialcircles selected by the user in the distribution interface 1160 of FIG.11B. Similar to the distribution interface 1160, the user is able to addand remove contacts and/or social circles by clicking the remove buttons1166 and the add link 1164. A save button 1186, when selected, saves anychanges made to the visibility of the post 1102 c and closes thevisibility preview 1180. A cancel button 1188, when selected, closes thevisibility preview 1180 without saving changes.

FIG. 12 depicts a screen-shot of an example circle inclusion page 1200.In some implementations, the circle inclusion page 1200 can be displayedwhen a user selects a “in circles” selector 1202 in the UI 301. Ingeneral, the circle inclusion page provides the user with informationthat identifies contacts that have added the user to one or more oftheir personal social circles. In some implementations, the contactsthat have added the user to a social circle can include direct contactsof the user and/or indirect contacts of the user. In this manner, the“in circles” selector 1202 provides an indication of whether a symmetricrelationship (e.g., the contact and the user are following each other)or an asymmetric relationship (e.g., the contact is following the user,but the user is not following the contact) exists between a particularcontact and the user. For example, the “in circles” selector 1202 canexpose asymmetric social networking relationships to the user, such thatthe user can act (e.g., add a contact to a social circle) to establish asymmetric relationship.

The circle inclusion page 1200 includes a number of contact regions 1210a-1210 j. Each of the contact regions 1210 a-1210 j corresponds to acontact that has included the user in one or more of their socialcircles. Each of the contact regions 1210 a-1210 j includes informationidentifying the corresponding contact, such as a contact name 1212, acontact occupation 1214, a contact location 1216, and a contact image1218. A number of membership indicators 1220 a-1220 d are included inthe contact regions 1210 g-1210 j that correspond to contacts who are inone or more of the users social circles. The membership indicators 1220a-1220 d display information indicative of which or how many of theuser's social circles the respective contact is in. In the illustratedexample, the contact associated with the membership indicator 1220 a isonly in the user's “friends” circle, while the membership indicator 1220c indicates that the associated contact is only in the user's “family”social circle. In the example of the membership indicator 1220 b, theindicator 1220 b shows that the associated contact is in two of theuser's social circles.

A number of “add to friends” buttons 1222 are included in the contactregions 1210 a-1210 f which correspond to contacts who have included theuser in their private social circles, but who are not in any of theuser's. By selecting the buttons 1222, the user adds the correspondingcontact to one of his social circles. In some implementations, theuser's “friends” circle may be the user's largest circle, encompassingsubstantially all of his contacts, and may therefore be used as adefault target circle for the addition of new or otherwise previouslyuncategorized contacts. In some implementations, adding uncategorizedcontacts to at least one of the user's social circles can help the usershare information with the contacts more privately and/or allow the userto see the content those contacts are sharing with the user. A blockbutton 1224 is included in each of the contact regions 1210 a-1210 f,and when activated, blocks content from the particular contact frombeing distributed to the user.

A sort link 1226, when selected, causes the contact regions 1210 a-1210j to be sorted according to selected criteria. For example, the contactregions 1210 a-1210 j can be sorted by circle membership status,alphabetical order, frequency of contact, or by other appropriatecriteria that may be used to sort the contact regions 1210 a-1210 j. Amore link 1228, when selected, causes the circle inclusion page 1200 todisplay additional contact regions that may not fit into the initialview.

In some implementations, a user of the social networking service can addanother user of the social networking service as a contact, and, uponindicating that the other user is to be added as a contact, the user canbe prompted to assign the other user to at least one social circle. Inthis manner, as users are added as contacts of a particular user, eachuser is categorized based on one or more social circles. For example, afirst user can be added as a contact of a second user within the socialnetworking service. User input can be received from the second user, theuser input indicating a command to add the first user as a contact ofthe second user within the computer-implemented social networkingservice. In response to receiving the user input, the second user can beprompted to identify at least one social circle, to which the first useris to be assigned. User input can be received from the second user, theuser input indicating an assignment of the first user as a member of oneor more social circles, and the first user is assigned as a member ofeach of the one or more social circles in response to the user input. Insome implementations, digital content can be received from the firstuser and can include a distribution indicating the second user as anintended recipient of the digital content. The digital content can betransmitted for display to the second user, such that second digitalcontent is displayed on one or more pages, each page of the one or morepages corresponding to a social circle of the one or more socialcircles.

FIGS. 13A-17B depict example screen-shots of a visibility inspector forposting to a social networking service. Specifically, the visibilityinspector informs a user of their potential exposure within a socialnetwork when replying or commenting on a post of another user in thesocial network. In this manner, a user can evaluate which contacts in asocial network would see a potential post of the user and the user cancater the potential post in view of the known audience. In someexamples, an author of a post defines a distribution for the post, whichdistribution includes a plurality of contacts, as discussed herein. Arecipient of the post can view their potential exposure based on anoverlap of contacts defined in the distribution. For example, one ormore contacts provided in the distribution can also be contacts of therecipient. The visibility inspector can compare contacts of thedistribution to contacts of the recipients, and can identify overlappingcontacts (i.e., contacts that the author of the post and the recipientof the post have in common). For example, a list of contacts provided inthe distribution can be compared to a list of contacts of each recipient(i.e., each recipient is also a contact in the distribution) to identifyoverlapping contacts on a per-recipient basis. In the context of theauthor, the visibility inspector can categorize the overlapping contactsbased on one or more social circles defined by the author within thesocial networking service. In the context of the recipient, thevisibility inspector can categorize the overlapping contacts based onone or more social circles defined by the recipient within the socialnetworking service. The visibility inspector is described below by wayof example. In general, the visibility inspector includes a userinterface that displays information about which groups and/orindividuals to which a particular post is visible.

FIG. 13A depicts a screen-shot 1300 of a post 1302 from the point ofview of an author (e.g., Irene) of the post. FIG. 13B depicts ascreen-shot 1350 of the post 1302 from the point of view of a non-authoruser viewing the post. With particular reference to FIG. 13A, the post1302 has been posted in the social network and includes an informationbar 1304 that displays information about the post. The information inthe information bar 1304 includes the approximate time of the post wasmade (e.g., 20 minutes ago), through which application the postoriginated (e.g., authored by a user in a tangential application (e.g.,Google Buzz) that feeds to the social networking service), and a privacysetting assigned to the post by the author. In the illustrated example,the privacy setting of the post 1302 is “public,” and is visible to anyuser of the social networking service.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1304, a visibility inspector window 1310 is presented to inform theauthor that the post 1302 is publicly visible to anyone. In someimplementations, the visibility inspector window 1310 is presented as apop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) that provides additional detailabout who is able to view the post 1302.

Referring now to FIG. 13B, the screen-shot 1350 of the post 1302provides a visibility inspector window 1360 that is displayed to anon-author user that is viewing the post 1302. The post 1302 includes aninformation bar 1354 that displays information about the post, such aswhen the post was made, where the post originated, and a privacy settingassigned to the post by the author. In the illustrated example, theprivacy setting of the post 1302 is “public,” and is visible to any userof the social networking service.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1354, the visibility inspector 1360 is presented to inform the readerthat the post 1302 is publicly visible. In some implementations, thevisibility inspector 1360 is presented as a pop-out window (e.g., acartoon bubble) that provides additional detail about who is able to seethe post 1302.

In the example of FIGS. 13A and 13B, the post 1302 is publicly visible.Consequently, the visibility inspector windows 1310, 1360 provide thesame information to both the author of the post 1302 and a non-authoruser that is viewing the post 1302.

FIG. 14A depicts a screen-shot 1400 of a visibility inspector window1410 from the point of view of an author (e.g., Irene) of a post. FIG.14B depicts a screen-shot 1450 of a visibility inspector window 1460from the point of view of a non-author user viewing the post. Withparticular reference to FIG. 14A, an information bar 1404 includes theapproximate time of the post was made (e.g., 20 minutes ago), throughwhich application the post originated (e.g., authored by a user in atangential application (e.g., Google Buzz) that feeds to the socialnetworking service), and a privacy setting assigned to the post by theauthor. In the illustrated example, the privacy setting of the post is“extended network,” and is visible to any user that is a member of theauthor's (e.g., Irene's) “extended network” in the social networkingservice. In some implementations, the extended network includes contactsof in the social networking service that are contacts of the author.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1404, the visibility inspector window 1410 is presented to inform theauthor that the post is visible to members of their extended network. Insome implementations, the visibility inspector window 1410 is presentedas a pop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) that provides additionaldetail about who is able to see the post.

The visibility inspector window 1410 includes a tally region 1412 thatdisplays information about the number of people in the author's socialnetwork. A breakdown region 1414 provides a breakdown of the contacts ofthe author's social network that can view the associated post. In theexample of FIGS. 14A and 14B, the author's entire social network (i.e.,“Extended Network”) can view the post. A “view all” link 1416, whenselected, causes a collection of all the individuals who can see thepost to be displayed.

FIG. 14B depicts a screen-shot 1450 of the visibility inspector window1460 from the non-author user's point of view. An information bar 1454includes the approximate time of the post was made (e.g., 20 minutesago), through which application the post originated (e.g., authored by auser in a tangential application (e.g., Google Buzz) that feeds to thesocial networking service), and a privacy setting assigned to the postby the author.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1454, the visibility inspector window 1460 is presented to provide thenon-author reader with a breakdown of those contacts in the non-authorreader's social network that overlap with contacts that can also viewthe post. In some implementations, the visibility inspector window 1460is presented as a pop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) that providesadditional detail about who is able to see the associated post.

The visibility inspector window 1460 includes a tally region 1462 thatdisplays general information about the number of contacts in theauthor's social network that are able to view the post. A breakdownregion 1464 provides a breakdown of the number of contacts in thenon-author reader's social network that can also view the post. In theillustrated example, the breakdown region 1464 indicates that, of the1399 people in the author's social network that are able to view thepost, eight are in the non-author reader's “friends” social circle,twenty four are in the reader's “business” social circle, and onehundred and forty five other contacts are in the non-author reader'ssocial network, but not assigned to a particular social circle.Accordingly, the breakdown region 1464 informs the non-author reader ofoverlap between the permitted audience indicated by the author of thepost and the social network of the non-author reader, with a furtherbreakdown into specific social circles established by the non-authorreader. A “view all” link 1466, when selected, causes a collection ofall the individuals who can see the post to be displayed.

FIG. 15A depicts a screen-shot 1500 of a visibility inspector window1510 from the point of view of an author (e.g., Irene) of a post. FIG.15B depicts a screen-shot 1550 of a visibility inspector window 1560from the point of view of a non-author user viewing the post. Withparticular reference to FIG. 15A, an information bar 1504 includes theapproximate time of the post was made (e.g., 20 minutes ago), throughwhich application the post originated (e.g., authored by a user in atangential application (e.g., Google Buzz) that feeds to the socialnetworking service), and a privacy setting assigned to the post by theauthor. In the illustrated example, the privacy setting of the post is“My circles,” and is visible to any user that is a member of theauthor's (e.g., Irene's) social circles in the social networkingservice.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1504, the visibility inspector window 1510 is presented to inform theauthor that the post is visible to members of the social circles definedby the author. In some implementations, the visibility inspector window1510 is presented as a pop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) thatprovides additional detail about who is able to see the post.

The visibility inspector window 1510 includes a tally region 1512 thatdisplays information about the number of people in the author's socialnetwork that are able to view the associated post. A breakdown region1514 provides a breakdown of the contacts of the author's social networkthat can view the associated post as it relates to the author's definedsocial circles. In the example of FIGS. 15A and 15B, only contacts thatare members of one or more of the author-defined social circles (i.e.,“My Circles”) can view the post. For example, if a contact is in theauthor's social network, but is not a member of a particular socialcircle defined by the author, that contact cannot view the post. A “viewall” link 1516, when selected, causes a collection of all theindividuals who can see the post to be displayed.

FIG. 15B depicts a screen-shot 1550 of the visibility inspector window1560 from the non-author user's point of view. An information bar 1554includes the approximate time of the post was made (e.g., 20 minutesago), through which application the post originated (e.g., authored by auser in a tangential application (e.g., Google Buzz) that feeds to thesocial networking service), and a privacy setting assigned to the postby the author. In comparison to the information bar 1504 of FIG. 15A,the information bar 1554 of FIG. 15B indicates that the privacy settingis “Private.” In this manner, a non-author user viewing the post isunable to determine that the author had distributed, or otherwise madethe post available for viewing to the members of the author's socialcircles, as discussed above.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1554, the visibility inspector window 1560 is presented to provide thenon-author reader with a breakdown of those contacts in the non-authorreader's social network that overlap with contacts that can also viewthe post. In some implementations, the visibility inspector window 1560is presented as a pop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) that providesadditional detail about who is able to see the associated post.

The visibility inspector window 1560 includes a tally region 1562 thatdisplays general information about the number of contacts in theauthor's social network that are able to view the post. A breakdownregion 1564 provides a breakdown of the number of contacts in thenon-author reader's social network that can also view the post. In theillustrated example, the breakdown region 1564 indicates that, of theseventy four people in the author's social network that are able to viewthe post, sixteen are in the non-author reader's “friends” socialcircle, five are in the reader's “business” social circle, and nineteenother contacts are in the non-author reader's social network, but notassigned to a particular social circle. Accordingly, the breakdownregion 1564 informs the non-author reader of an overlap between thepermitted audience indicated by the author of the post and the socialnetwork of the non-author reader, with a further breakdown into specificsocial circles established by the non-author reader. A “view all” link1566, when selected, causes a collection of all the individuals who cansee the post to be displayed.

FIG. 16A depicts a screen-shot 1600 of a visibility inspector window1610 from the point of view of an author (e.g., Irene) of a post. FIG.16B depicts a screen-shot 1650 of a visibility inspector window 1660from the point of view of a non-author user viewing the post. Withparticular reference to FIG. 16A, an information bar 1604 includes theapproximate time of the post was made (e.g., 20 minutes ago), throughwhich application the post originated (e.g., authored by a user in atangential application (e.g., Google Buzz) that feeds to the socialnetworking service), and a privacy setting assigned to the post by theauthor. In the illustrated example, the privacy setting of the post is“3 Circles+more,” and is visible to any user that is a member of theparticular three circles selected by the author (e.g., Irene) as well ascontacts that may not be participants in the particular socialnetworking service.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1604, the visibility inspector window 1610 is presented to inform theauthor that the post is visible to particular members of their socialnetwork. In some implementations, the visibility inspector window 1610is presented as a pop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) that providesadditional detail about who is able to see the post.

The visibility inspector window 1610 includes a tally region 1612 thatdisplays general information about the number of people in the author'ssocial network that are able to view the associated post. A breakdownregion 1614 provides a breakdown of the contacts of the author's socialnetwork that can view the associated post as it relates to the author'sdefined social circles or otherwise. In the example of FIGS. 16A and16B, only contacts that are members of one or more of the author-definedand selected social circles can view the post, as well as particularcontacts identified by the author. In the example of FIG. 16A, of theforty three people that are able to view the author's post, twenty threeare members of the author's “Friends” social circle, ten are members ofthe author's “College Buddies” social circle, eight are members of theauthor's “Cycling” social circle, two others are designated by theauthor to be able to view the post (e.g., via email), but are notmembers of a particular social circle.

FIG. 16B depicts a screen-shot 1650 of the visibility inspector window1660 from the non-author user's point of view. An information bar 1654includes the approximate time of the post was made (e.g., 20 minutesago), through which application the post originated (e.g., authored by auser in a tangential application (e.g., Google Buzz) that feeds to thesocial networking service), and a privacy setting assigned to the postby the author. In comparison to the information bar 1604 of FIG. 16A,the information bar 1654 of FIG. 16B indicates that the privacy settingis “Private.” In this manner, a non-author user viewing the post isunable to determine that the author had distributed, or otherwise madethe post available for viewing to the members of the author's socialcircles, as discussed above.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1654, the visibility inspector window 1660 is presented to provide thenon-author reader with a breakdown of those contacts in the non-authorreader's social network that overlap with contacts that can also viewthe post. In some implementations, the visibility inspector window 1660is presented as a pop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) that providesadditional detail about who is able to see the associated post.

The visibility inspector window 1660 includes a tally region 1662 thatdisplays general information about the number of contacts in theauthor's social network that are able to view the post. A breakdownregion 1664 provides a breakdown of the number of contacts in thenon-author reader's social network that can also view the post. In theillustrated example, the breakdown region 1664 indicates that, of theforty three people in the author's social network that are able to viewthe post, seven are in the non-author reader's “Friends” social circle,three are in the non-author reader's “Business” social circle, andthirteen other contacts are in the non-author reader's social network,but not assigned to a particular social circle defined by the non-authorreader. Accordingly, the breakdown region 1664 informs the non-authorreader of an overlap between the permitted audience indicated by theauthor of the post and the social network of the non-author reader, witha further breakdown into specific social circles established by thenon-author reader. A “view all” link 1666, when selected, causes acollection of all the individuals who can see the post to be displayed.

FIG. 17A depicts a screen-shot 1700 of a visibility inspector window1710 from the point of view of an author (e.g., Irene) of a post. FIG.17B depicts a screen-shot 1750 of a visibility inspector window 1760from the point of view of a non-author user viewing the post. Withparticular reference to FIG. 17A, an information bar 1704 includes theapproximate time of the post was made (e.g., 20 minutes ago), throughwhich application the post originated (e.g., authored by a user in atangential application (e.g., Google Buzz) that feeds to the socialnetworking service), and a privacy setting assigned to the post by theauthor. In the illustrated example, the privacy setting of the post is“Friends,” and is visible to any user that is a member of the particularsocial circle (e.g., Friends) selected by the author (e.g., Irene).

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1704, the visibility inspector window 1710 is presented to inform theauthor that the post is visible to particular members of their socialnetwork. In some implementations, the visibility inspector window 1710is presented as a pop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) that providesadditional detail about who is able to see the post.

The visibility inspector window 1710 includes a tally region 1712 thatdisplays general information about the number of people in the author'ssocial network that are able to view the associated post. A breakdownregion 1714 provides a breakdown of the contacts of the author's socialnetwork that can view the associated post as it relates to the author'sdefined social circles or otherwise. In the example of FIGS. 17A and17B, only contacts that are members of the author-defined and selectedsocial circle (e.g., Friends) can view the post. In the example of FIG.17A, of the twenty three people that are able to view the author's post,all are members of the author's “Friends” social circle.

FIG. 17B depicts a screen-shot 1750 of the visibility inspector window1760 from the non-author user's point of view. An information bar 1754includes the approximate time of the post was made (e.g., 20 minutesago), through which application the post originated (e.g., authored by auser in a tangential application (e.g., Google Buzz) that feeds to thesocial networking service), and a privacy setting assigned to the postby the author. In comparison to the information bar 1704 of FIG. 17A,the information bar 1754 of FIG. 17B indicates that the privacy settingis “Private.” In this manner, a non-author user viewing the post isunable to determine that the author had distributed, or otherwise madethe post available for viewing to the members of the author's socialcircles, as discussed above.

By clicking, hovering over, or otherwise selecting the information bar1754, the visibility inspector window 1760 is presented to provide thenon-author reader with a breakdown of those contacts in the non-authorreader's social network that overlap with contacts that can also viewthe post. In some implementations, the visibility inspector window 1760is presented as a pop-out window (e.g., a cartoon bubble) that providesadditional detail about who is able to see the associated post.

The visibility inspector window 1760 includes a tally region 1762 thatdisplays general information about the number of contacts in theauthor's social network that are able to view the post. A breakdownregion 1764 provides a breakdown of the number of contacts in thenon-author reader's social network that can also view the post. In theillustrated example, the breakdown region 1764 indicates that, of thetwenty three people in the author's social network that are able to viewthe post, seven are in the non-author reader's “Friends” social circleand three other contacts are in the non-author reader's social network,but not assigned to a particular social circle defined by the non-authorreader. Accordingly, the breakdown region 1764 informs the non-authorreader of an overlap between the permitted audience indicated by theauthor of the post and the social network of the non-author reader, witha further breakdown into specific social circles established by thenon-author reader. A “view all” link 1766, when selected, causes acollection of all the individuals who can see the post to be displayed.

In some implementations, by providing information that describes therange and scope of visibility of a post from the author's point of view,an author can become informed about his target audience. For example,the author may discover that his post was unintentionally made visibleto people in a group to which he'd rather not publish to. Using suchinformation, the user can choose to modify the audience (e.g., socialcircles) targeted by the post after the post has already been published.In some implementations, by providing information that describes therange and scope of visibility of a post, a non-author reader of the postcan become informed about the audience that is able to see any commentsor responses the reader may make with regard to a post. For example, thereader may decide to refrain from making a low-brow reply to a post ifmembers of his “family” circle would be able to see the reply.

In some implementations, users of social networks can create so-called“anti-circles.” In general, an anti-circle can include a personal circlethat helps the user avoid posting certain selected types of informationto contacts that are members of the particular circle. For example, theuser may create a “no cursing” personal social circle, into which he canadd people who are easily offended by cursing (e.g., his best customer,his grandmother, members of his church). By implementing such ananti-circle, the user can open a visibility inspector (e.g., thevisibility inspector 1350, 1450, 1550, 1650, 1750) to quickly determinewhether members of the “no cursing” anti-circle are among the contactsthat are able to view a post. If a member of the “no cursing”anti-circle is among the contacts that are able to view a particularpost, the user may modify a response or comment to the post to avoidcrude language, for example.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, various formsof the flows shown above may be used, with steps re-ordered, added, orremoved. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

Implementations of the present disclosure and all of the functionaloperations provided herein can be realized in digital electroniccircuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including thestructures disclosed in this specification and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. Implementationsof the invention can be realized as one or more computer programproducts, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructionsencoded on a computer readable medium for execution by, or to controlthe operation of, data processing apparatus. The computer readablemedium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readablestorage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter effecting amachine-readable propagated signal, or a combination of one or more ofthem. The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus,devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers.The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates anexecution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., codethat constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, or a combination of one or moreof them.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can bedeployed in any form, including as a stand alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computingenvironment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to afile in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a filethat holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in amarkup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program inquestion, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store oneor more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer programcan be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computersthat are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this disclose can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computerneed not have such devices. Moreover, a computer can be embedded inanother device, e.g., a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a mobile audio player, a Global Positioning System (GPS)receiver, to name just a few. Computer readable media suitable forstoring computer program instructions and data include all forms of nonvolatile memory, media and memory devices, including by way of examplesemiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks;magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor andthe memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purposelogic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, implementations of the inventioncan be implemented on a computer having a display device, e.g., a CRT(cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, fordisplaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device,e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by which the user can provide input to thecomputer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interactionwith a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can beany form of sensory feedback, e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback,or tactile feedback; and input from the user can be received in anyform, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

Implementations of the invention can be realized in a computing systemthat includes a back end component, e.g., as a data server, or thatincludes a middleware component, e.g., an application server, or thatincludes a front end component, e.g., a client computer having agraphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user caninteract with an implementation of the invention, or any combination ofone or more such back end, middleware, or front end components. Thecomponents of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium ofdigital data communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks include a local area network (“LAN”) and a widearea network (“WAN”), e.g., the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

While this disclosure contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of the disclosure or of what maybe claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific toparticular implementations of the disclosure. Certain features that aredescribed in this disclosure in the context of separate implementationscan also be provided in combination in a single implementation.Conversely, various features that are described in the context of asingle implementation can also be provided in multiple implementationsseparately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, althoughfeatures may be described above as acting in certain combinations andeven initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimedcombination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and theclaimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation ofa subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the implementations described above should not beunderstood as requiring such separation in all implementations, and itshould be understood that the described program components and systemscan generally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

In each instance where an HTML file is mentioned, other file types orformats may be substituted. For instance, an HTML file may be replacedby an XML, JSON, plain text, or other types of files. Moreover, where atable or hash table is mentioned, other data structures (such asspreadsheets, relational databases, or structured files) may be used.

Thus, particular implementations of the present disclosure have beendescribed. Other implementation s are within the scope of the followingclaims. For example, the actions recited in the claims can be performedin a different order and still achieve desirable results.

1. A system comprising: one or more computing devices; and one or morecomputer-readable media coupled to the one or more computing devices andhaving instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one ormore computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices toperform operations comprising: transmitting contact data for displayinggraphical representations of contacts for display to a user, thecontacts being contacts of the user within a computer-implemented socialnetworking service; generating a first social circle of the user, thefirst social circle comprising a first subset of contacts of the userwithin the social networking service and defining a first distributionfor digital content; generating a second social circle of the user, thesecond social circle comprising a second subset of contacts of the userwithin the social networking service and defining a second distributionfor digital content; and in response to user input, providing the firstsocial circle and the second social circle for selection by the user todefine a distribution of digital content, the distribution comprising atleast one of the first distribution and the second distribution.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise transmittingan indication to each contact of the first subset of contacts, theindication informing each contact of membership in a social circle. 3.The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprisetransmitting an indication to each contact of the first subset ofcontacts, the indication informing each contact of identities of each ofthe contacts in the first subset of contacts.
 4. The system of claim 3,wherein the indication informs each contact in the first subset ofcontacts of a name of the first social circle.
 5. The system of claim 1,wherein the operations further comprise maintaining contactconfidentiality within the second subset of contacts such that contactsof the second subset of contacts are not informed of identities of othercontacts in the second subset of contacts.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting an invitationmessage to contacts of the user in the social networking service;receiving a confirmation indication from at least one contact; andincluding the at least one contact in the first subset of contacts inresponse to receiving the confirmation indication.
 7. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the operations further comprise receiving message textfrom the user, the invitation message including the message text.
 8. Thesystem of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise: providingstandard message text for display to the user; and receiving user inputediting the standard message text to provide edited message text, theinvitation message including the edited message text.
 9. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the operations further comprise: determining that anemail address of an intended recipient of the invitation message is notassociated with a particular email service; and generating theinvitation message as a plain text message in response to thedetermining.
 10. The system of claim 6, wherein the operations furthercomprise: determining that an email address of an intended recipient ofthe invitation message is associated with a particular email service;determining that the intended recipient is not a user of the socialnetworking service; and generating the invitation message to include anadvertisement for the social networking service in response to thedetermining.
 11. The system of claim 6, wherein the operations furthercomprise: determining that an email address of an intended recipient ofthe invitation message is associated with a particular email service;determining that the intended recipient is a user of the socialnetworking service; and generating the invitation message as a rich textmessage in response to the determining.
 12. The system of claim 12,wherein at least one contact of the first subset of contacts is also acontact of the second subset of contacts.
 13. The system of claim 1,wherein digital content comprises at least one of text, an image file, avideo file, an audio file, and a uniform resource indicator (URI). 14.The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise expandingthe first subset of contacts to include additional contacts in responseto user input.
 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprise: receiving a search query from a searching user; processing thesearch query; identifying the first social circle based on processingthe search query; and transmitting data corresponding to the firstsocial circle for display to the searching user.
 16. The system of claim15, wherein the searching user is a user of the social networkingservice.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the searching user is auser of the Internet.
 18. The system of claim 15, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: receiving a request from the searching user, therequest comprising a request to join the first social circle;transmitting the request to the user; receiving an approval indicationfrom the user; and in response to receiving the approval indication,adding the searching user to the first subset of contacts.
 19. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein one or more contacts of the first subset ofcontacts or the second subset of contacts is a non-social networkingcontact of the user.
 20. A computer storage medium encoded with acomputer program, the program comprising instructions that when executedby data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus toperform operations comprising: transmitting contact data for displayinggraphical representations of contacts for display to a user, thecontacts being contacts of the user within a computer-implemented socialnetworking service; generating a first social circle of the user, thefirst social circle comprising a first subset of contacts of the userwithin the social networking service and defining a first distributionfor digital content; generating a second social circle of the user, thesecond social circle comprising a second subset of contacts of the userwithin the social networking service and defining a second distributionfor digital content; and in response to user input, providing the firstsocial circle and the second social circle for selection by the user todefine a distribution of digital content, the distribution comprising atleast one of the first distribution and the second distribution.
 21. Acomputer-implemented method comprising: transmitting contact data fordisplaying graphical representations of contacts for display to a user,the contacts being contacts of the user within a computer-implementedsocial networking service; generating a first social circle of the user,the first social circle comprising a first subset of contacts of theuser within the social networking service and defining a firstdistribution for digital content; generating a second social circle ofthe user, the second social circle comprising a second subset ofcontacts of the user within the social networking service and defining asecond distribution for digital content; and in response to user input,providing the first social circle and the second social circle forselection by the user to define a distribution of digital content, thedistribution comprising at least one of the first distribution and thesecond distribution.
 22. A system comprising: one or more computingdevices; and one or more computer-readable media coupled to the one ormore computing devices and having instructions stored thereon which,when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause the one ormore computing devices to perform operations comprising: receiving firstdigital content from a first user of a computer-implemented socialnetworking service, the first digital content being associated with adistribution, the distribution comprising a second user; transmittingthe first digital content for display to the second user; receivingfirst user input from the second user, the first user input indicating acommand to add the first user as a contact of the second user within thecomputer-implemented social networking service; requesting that thesecond user identify at least one social circle, to which the first useris to be assigned; receiving second user input from the second user, thesecond user input indicating an assignment of the first user as a memberof one or more social circles; and assigning the first user as a memberof each of the one or more social circles in response to the second userinput.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the operations furthercomprise: receiving second digital content from the first user, thesecond digital content being associated with a second distribution, thesecond distribution comprising the second user; and transmitting thesecond digital content for display to the second user, such that thesecond digital content is displayed on one or more pages, each page ofthe one or more pages corresponding to a social circle of the one ormore social circles.